Slipping Through the Hourglass
by Twin-Shades1
Summary: Schu, Ken, and a quest to save the world. What more could you want? Warnings: OOC, Character Death, Magic, AU
1. Chapter 1

Day: I have been….INSPIRED! 

Moon: Don't you mean WE have been inspired? 

Day: *shrugs* meh. 

Schuldig: I'm frightened. 

Moon: And you should be. 

Day: But Schuldig- 

Moon: *claps hand over Day's mouth* WHAT have I said about spoiling? 

Day: Not to do it? 

Moon: Very good, Day-chan. *pats Day on the head* 

Ken: So I have to ask….what god-awful, traumatizing event am I going through THIS time. 

Day: That would be spoiling! 

Moon: Good girl! 

~*~*~ 

"Well, well, well, look what we have here," a familiar voice with a German accent rose from the dark. 

"Looks like a lost litter of little kitties," came the answering voice, identifiable as the Irish psychopath. 

Yohji rolled his eyes, glancing over to his teammates. The four Weiss assassins had been on a mission to the Tokyo Museum of History, to stop a drug ring that was operating out of the basement. Now that the targets were dead, the four of them were on their way out. 

And now, as per Murphy's Law, Schwarz had to show up. 

"By now, you should be aware that we kittens have claws," the blonde playboy ground out, leaping for the source of the German's voice. 

"Maybe so, but you'll soon find yourselves declawed," Schuldig replied, dodging Yohji's attack with ease. 

While Schuldig dealt with Yohji, Farfarello launched an attack on Siberian. Before the other two could lend a hand to their busy teammates, Brad and Nagi came up from the rear. 

Omi had been in mid-throw when he suddenly found himself unable to move. A passive voice spoke up behind him, "Not so fast little Bombay." 

~Little he says. Who's the older on of us two?~ Omi frowned, trying to somehow break the telekinetic hold the younger boy had on him. 

Struggling to no avail he had to watch as Schwarz slowly got the upper hand in the fight. Balinese was currently wedged between Schuldig and a cement pillar, clutching his head his mouth moving as if he was trying to say something to the younger telepath. 

And just a few feet away Ken stared in disbelieve at Schwarz's psychopath. He had scratched his chest, five deep claw marks that were bleeding excessively, and all the Irishman did was grinning at him. Taking a step back, Ken tried to get as much distance between him and the madman as possible. To no avail. 

The only thing the other six of the assassins heard was a yelp of surprise before everything started to rush by in fast forward. 

Before anyone could even think of stopping Farfarello the man had grabbed Ken by the back of his jacket and his jeans, hurling the poor boy across the hall. His aim couldn't have been worse. Instead of hitting the wall, he hit Nagi, and lay behind the display case in a daze. 

At the same time, Nagi too, fell. Hitting the ground hard, the teen lost his concentration, sending Omi, who he had held suspended over the ground, crashing down. The young Weiss tried his best to brace the fall by rolling off when he hit the stone floor. Succeeding partially he kept rolling until he hit something solid. Looking up he could see one of the great urns tip over the edge of its pedestal and with a loud crash it shattered on the ground. 

Before either Weiss or Schwarz could do anything, a sickly black smoke oozed out from the shattered pieces. The slimy looking stuff coalesced into a human form. Long blonde hair was tied back in a pony tail, his bangs framing his thin face. Solid black eyes glared out from a lovely tanned face. His legs were encased in tight leather pants, with boots coming up to mid-thigh, and a black leather vest covered a blood-red silk shirt. 

The man smiled at the two assassin groups, evil radiating from him in waves. "Thank you, fools, for releasing me from my prison." 

"Who the hell are you," Aya ground out, raising his sword in a guard against this man. 

"Your pathetic weapon can do nothing against me. I am Kasha, Dark Mage of Radaran. I think, perhaps, I shall honor those who set me free, by using your life force to start making my demons." 

Omi stared at Kasha wide eyed, "That doesn't sound good…" 

Behind the display case, Ken was finally coming to his senses, when he felt a presence-a STRONG presence urging him to stay silent. 

Schuldig, too, felt the presence, urging him to move only when it was time, whatever that meant. The strong-willed telepath found that he could only watch as Kasha lifted his hand, calling forth a snake-headed staff from nothing. 

Getting fed up with Kasha's behavior, Aya lunged for him, katana at the ready. The Dark Mage merely smirked, pointing his staff at the leader of Weiss. A vile smoke erupted from the snakes open mouth, and shot out towards the redhead. To the horror of those watching, it seemed as though Aya's soul was being sucked from his body, and when the smoke withdrew into the snake, Aya's corpse dissolved into dust. 

Before the others could react, the smoke came back out and attacked the remaining assassins. 

--Run. Now!-- 

The urge to run came over both Ken and Schuldig with unnatural strength. Before either of them could think twice about it, they were out the door and into the night, leaving their comrades to the Dark Magician's non-existent mercy. 

Led by some other-worldly force, the two rival assassins ran until they reached the relative safety of an abandoned warehouse. Exhausted, the two heavily breathing assassins collapsed to the ground. 

"Oh my God…I can't believe…I just…left…them there…" Ken gasped, eyes tearing up. ~Aya…~ 

Schuldig glared at the other assassin, "Get over it, Hidaka. They're dead. The strong survive." 

"Bastard." 

The German rolled his eyes, "Oh, I'm so hurt. Like I said, the strong survive. It's how the world works." 

Ken sneered at the other man, "Maybe that's how it works for you and your team, but my teammates were my _friends_. Perhaps you're unfamiliar with the concept." 

Schuldig further proceeded to infuriate the other man by laughing at him. "Friends? Friends are for naïve little assassins who hold onto hope way past time." 

"That's it!" Pushed to his limit by the days events-especially the loss of his teammates-Ken snapped. Not caring how foolhardy his actions were, Ken lunged at Schuldig, claws fully extended. 

The German merely laughed some more and dodged easily. "Ooohhhh…the kitten's got claws." 

Getting his feet under him, Ken whirled around aiming, once again for the other assassin's throat. This time the irritating redhead blocked ken, catching the other man's wrists. 

"Don't you feel anything, you cold-hearted bastard!" Siberian attempted to wrench himself free from Schuldig's confining grip. 

"Oh, now I'm amused," the German chuckled, "An assassin with feelings…how pathetic." 

Ken glared at him, "Laugh it up, asshole. In case you didn't notice, your teammates are dead, too. Of course, this might not bother you as much as it should." 

"On the contrary, kitten," Schuldig smirked back, "Now any missions that come up, I'll have to do on my own. That kinda does bother me." 

"Egotistical jackass." 

"Cute." 

"Both of you, please, calm yourselves," a soothing voice said from no discernable location. The voice was heard with both their ears and with their minds. Both assassins began scanning the room, looking for whatever tricks might be played on them now. "No tricks. I speak only Truth." 

The room was lit from corner to corner with soft glowing lights. In the center of the room was an orb of pure, glowing white light. From the northern end of the building, pale blue and white lights appeared, moving towards the center orb. From the west appeared green and brown lights. The eastern wall was lit with lights of deep blue and sea green while angry oranges and reds came in from the south. All these lights moved towards the center of the room, adding their color to the white light. 

One last blinding flash of light, and a girl stood where the lights were. Pale skin glowed with a soft light, her long platinum blonde hair nearly white. A white ceremonial gown of some sort covered her thin body. The girl lifted her face to stare at the two assassins with deep, soul-searing blue eyes. 

"What the hell is going on here?!" Schuldig demanded, never willing to admit that her penetrating gaze was unnerving. 

"Please…you must help…he has been released again…" 

"Who?" Ken asked, trying to look anywhere at the girl. 

"My brother, Kasha the Dark." 

Schuldig snorted, "Right. That big ugly scary thing was your brother? And who am I? The Queen of England?" 

"Please…you two alone can prevent catastrophe…" 

"I'll leave it to the kitten, then. I'm more of a catastrophe causing kinda guy myself." The German assassin turned away from her, intent on walking out the door. 

Ken opened his mouth to stop him, but the girl beat him to it. 

"Stop." 

It was only one word, but said with such power behind it that Schuldig turned to stare at the girl. "You have five minutes." 

"My name is Keila, and a long time ago, I had a twin brother named Kasha. We were very close. But he became corrupted by dark magics. Kasha had one goal, and only one goal. Absolute power. Many evils were done at his command. Only by luck was my Order able to stop him, and seal him away inside a Holy Urn…an urn that was shattered this night." 

"What do you want us to do about it?" Ken asked. "I mean…what could we do?" 

"Stop the urn from breaking." 

The two assassins exchanged glances. 

"Keila, baby," Schuldig began, "in case you hadn't noticed…IT'S ALREADY BROKEN!." 

"Yes." Keila said, "And you two will cause it to become unbroken." 

"How?" the two males questioned at the same time. 

Keila smiled, "There is a temple. Within that temple is a portal through time. The portal is set to always return to the last minute and a half before the Holy Urn shatters-" 

"You mean this has happened before?" Schuldig interrupted her. A quick glare silenced him. 

"You must find the temple and go through that portal." 

Ken nodded, "I assume you'll tell us how to activate the portal, the location of the temple…all those lovely details?" 

Keila laughed. "I'm afraid I can be of no more help to you. All I can do is open your eyes to powers you never knew you had. Life…" 

Keila lifted her right hand, a light orb forming in it. The orb glided through the air to float just above Ken's eye level. 

"And Death…" from Keila's left hand, a dark orb with violet energy appeared and moved over to Schuldig. 

"Powers equaled and balanced. Without one, the other is meaningless. 

"Lucien, I summon thee from formless voids, sword of power. To your duty and to your purpose. 

"Keiran, I summon thee from formless voids, sword of power. To your duty and to your purpose." 

Both assassins saw a flash from their respective orbs, and that was all. 

~*~*~ 

Weiss & Schwarz – Ken & Schu: YOU KILLED US!!! 

Moon: Yup. 

Aya: But…how are you going to pair me up with KEN if I'm DEAD! 

Day: *shakes head and sighs* You sad, sad little man. 

Aya: What? *glare* 

Moon: *pulls out a control collar* Behave. 

Aya: *subsides* 

Ken: *talking to Figleaf* She's planning to do WHAT to me? 

Figleaf: Ya'heard me. 

Ken: But I don't wanna- 

Moon: *claps hand over Ken's mouth* NO SPOILING! 

(Figleaf is Day-chan's muse. Yes. He _IS_ a figleaf) 


	2. Chapter 2

Day: YAY!!! We're ba~ack! 

Weiss & Schwarz: *groan* 

Moon: *whaps the all* Idiots! You wanna be dead forever? 

Yohji: *tugs his halo straight* Like you would do that to me. 

Day: Want me to change the ending so you fall to your death from the museum balcony? 

Yohji: *shuts up rather quick* 

Farf: *tugs on his white dress and wings* This is making God laugh! 

Omi: Should he really be an angel? *preening his wings* 

Day: Yes he should. *turns to Moon* Ready? 

Moon: As ready as I'll ever be…. 

Day: Yay!! Go ahead then readers! *activates the screen* 

Part Two: 

Ken woke up to the sensation of a pounding headache. He could tell that he was lying on the floor with someone. That someone was using his belly as a pillow. 

"Yotan…if you EVER take me drinking again, I will kill you." 

"I'm not Yohji…I've actually earned my reputation," said a familiar, and unwelcome, voice. 

Ken pushed himself up immediately, despite his companion's complaints that Ken made a good pillow. A quick scan of his surroundings and he discovered that he was still in the abandoned warehouse. With Schuldig. Life was just peachy keen. 

The German assassin, realizing that he wasn't going to be getting back to sleep anytime soon, also rose. "Guten morgen to you too, kitten." 

Ken sighed, and pushed himself to his feet. He paused, however when he looked at his hand and noticed his bugnuks were missing. Schuldig rolled his eyes, until a quick check revealed his backup gun was missing, as well. It took them no time at all to find the swords and sheaths that had been left in their place. 

Both swords were rather short, and the sheaths were designed in such a way to strap onto their backs. Ken examined his sword. A celtic knot pattern was etched all along the bluish-silver blade. The handle was also blue, and was patterned after a graceful bird. Looking over at the German's sword, he saw the same knot pattern, this time on a purplish-black material, and a handle shaped like a winged lizard or a dragon. 

The two assassins looked at each other. 

"Now what?" Ken asked, strapping the sword on. Schuldig did the same. 

"Well, my guess is that this Kasha guy is going to be looking for us…we might want to think about leaving Japan. The question is, I don't know where we'd go." 

Ken thought about it, "Well, it really doesn't matter, does it? I mean, we're as likely to find out about what we need to do in Ireland as we are in Japan." 

Schuldig raised an eyebrow, "Ireland? What makes you say that?" 

The dark-haired assassin blinked, "I don't know…Does it really matter?" 

The German shrugged, "Probably not. Right now, let's worry about getting out of Ja-wait a second…Why aren't you all torn up about your teammates getting killed anymore?" Schuldig glared at Ken. 

Ken gave Schuldig an even look, "Remember what she said? We'd go back in time ninety seconds before the urn even breaks. I'll miss them until we get back, but once we're back, they'll be there too." 

The telepath's jaw dropped. He couldn't believe he missed that. "Well, let's get going. We need to get out of this country." 

"Sure," Ken rolled his eyes, "And how, exactly, are we going to do that? We don't exactly have any visas or anything." 

Schuldig shrugged, "Fake our way through. I'll make people see our visas…even if they're fakes, I can make them believe it. And then we simply steal some tickets from people at the airport." 

"Yeah, that'll wo-AIRPORT!" 

The German raised an eyebrow, "Somebody is afraid of flying, I take it?" 

"There is no way in HELL you are getting me on one of those damn death machines!" 

"Wanna bet?" 

"Bite me." 

"Don't tempt me." 

~*~*~ 

Ken shuddered as he was drug onto the damned death machine. As he had promised, Schuldig managed to make the airport officials believe that they had actual visas, and he stole two tickets from an innocent couple on their way to France for their honeymoon. His excuse was that, once they got back, it wouldn't happen. The same when Schuldig stole some random person's suitcase and dumped the contents of it in the bathroom, securing both of the swords and what clothes they had taken from the Koneko (Schuldig and Yohji, it turns out, not only had similar tastes, but also were a close enough size). 

Schuldig glanced over at Ken, "You REALLY don't like airplanes, do you?" 

The younger man shook his head, tan face paling another shade. The German assassin became a bit more concerned when Ken's already pale face began to take on a green tinge. 

At the gate, Ken's feet refused to take him any further, and Schuldig found himself dragging the younger man by his wrist. The glassy, frightened look in his eyes was another cause for concern. 

They found their seats, and Schuldig found himself fighting with Ken to make the brunette secure his seatbelt. 

"I don't wanna-" Ken whined, eyes darting around, "What if the plane crashes?" 

"The plane is not going to crash, and you've got to. It's one of those stupid airline rules." 

Before Ken could protest further (and thus annoy the stewardesses and other passengers) Schuldig leaned in really close to him. 

-- Kaetzchen, If you want, I'll knock you out for the flight. At least that way, you don't have to experience it.-- 

Ken gulped and nodded. Even if he didn't want the German in his head, anything that would keep him from remembering this flight from hell was a good thing. The redhead got an intense expression on his face, and an intense drowsy feeling overcame the brunette. 

Schuldig watched as the younger assassin drifted off, an almost tender expression on his face, which vanished immediately when he caught the edges of Ken's dreams. Turning away from him, Schuldig passed the flight by watching the clouds go by. 

~*~*~ 

Schuldig had never seen anyone move as fast as Hidaka did once the plane landed. And he had seen some fast people. 

"Problems, Kenken?" 

The only reply Schuldig received was a glare. "I. Hate. Planes." 

"C'mon, it's getting late. Let's go find a hotel or something, okay?" 

"Fine. Just so long as I don't have to get on a plane again." 

"You won't. Not tonight, anyway." 

"Pardon?" 

"Nothing." Schuldig grinned to himself, and began walking off in a random direction. Ken stared after him for several minutes before chasing after the errant German. 

"Oi, Schuldig! Wait up a second!" 

~*~*~ 

Schuldig stretched, falling backwards onto the bed. "This is the life. I love hotels." 

Ken glanced at him from the window. "You stole that man's credit card, Schuldig. What's going to happen when he finds out that it's missing?" 

"I don't know, nor do I care. I could shoot random people for the hell of it, and it wouldn't matter, Kenken." 

The soccer playing assassin leapt to his feet, "Wouldn't matter?! What do you mean it wouldn't matter!?" 

The German smirked in reply, "Remember, Kenken? We're going back through time. It will never have happened." 

Ken subsided, but continued to glare at the other assassin. 

Grinning, Schuldig flipped over so that he was on his stomach. "What's wrong, Kenken? C'mon, you can tell me." 

The younger man shook his head, "Nothing." The brunette's stomach rumbled, "But if you insist on stealing people's credit cards, then you can take me out to eat." 

The German laughed at that, rolling off the bed. "C'mon, Kenken…Let's go get ourselves some dinner, ne?" 

~*~*~ 

Ken shouldered his backpack, looking around nervously. He hated airports. He hated airplanes. He hated the thought of being fifty thousand feet off the ground. But did Schuldig care? Noooo. 

Currently the German was busy weaving through the crowd of early morning travelers. Just once did he stop to ask some random officer a question, and once again Ken was amazed on how fast his one time enemy managed to pick up languages. He had voiced his curiosity to the redhead and actually had gotten a straight answer for once. 

'It's really simple,' was all Schuldig had to say about it. 'I just go and take I from a person that already knows the language. Once I did that, I just don't forget it anymore.' 

Ken shuddered. If the German could simply invade other peoples minds without them noticing… how could Ken be certain that he wouldn't stay out of his thoughts? 

--You can't, and that's where the fun of this game begins.— 

Ken's head snapped up to find himself staring into Schuldig's almost hypnotic blue eyes. A shiver ran down Ken's spine and his eyes narrowed. "Stay fucking out of my head, Schuldig…." 

The redhead exhaled with a loud sigh. –First…. Don't just suddenly talk out loud all of the sudden, getting the whole hall to ignore you isn't exactly child's play you know. Second, if you would shield, I'd stay out of your thoughts, because of reason three… you're a little of a bore Ken. Aya this and Aya that…. Geez…. At least call him by his real name.— 

Ken's emotions altered between shock, annoyance and flat out anger. If he had his bugnuks right now, Schuldig wouldn't have had a chance. 

The German stood straight again, eyes emotionless. –But you don't have your weapon Ken. SO what will you do about it?— 

The younger assassin just blushed beet red, and turned away from Schuldig. It wasn't Ken's fault that he couldn't shield – he'd never had to worry about it. Settling his backpack more firmly across his shoulder, Ken started walking away from Schuldig. He so was not looking forward to being on the plane again. 

Sighing, Schuldig rolled his eyes, "Oi, Hidaka, get back here! We still haven't decided where we need to go, now have we?" 

Ken turned around to give Schuldig a look, "Ireland. And as soon as you get the tickets, you can come and get me. I'll be in the gift shop." 

"…." The German ran after the Japanese man, "Ireland? Just like that, you'll pull our destination out of a hat?" 

"Well, you asked." 

"….fine. Ireland it is, then." Schuldig closed his eyes briefly, "And that couple over there has what we're looking for." 

"Then what are you waiting here for? Go get them!" Ken crossed his arms impatiently. 

"Me? Why do I have to do all the work?" 

"Because you know how." 

Schuldig gave Ken a look. "And you don't? What kind of an assassin are you anyway?" 

"A better one than you!! At least I have my own reasons as to why I kill my targets!" 

All Schuldig could do was laugh. "Oh… so now killing to uphold the law is right?" 

Schuldig grinned. --Taking a life is taking a life Ken, and in the justice system that you try to protect that would be called murder, regardless of what the reasons were. So how is it that you are better?— 

Ken just stared at Schuldig. Could the irritating man be right? Was a killing another human murder, regardless of what the reasons were? No, it couldn't be or else, why had Weiss been created in the first place. 

Schuldig chuckled. –No time to brood on it now. Go get those damn tickets!— 

And with that he gave Ken a firm shove, causing the younger brunette to stumble forward ungracefully. 

Glaring at Schuldig over his shoulder Ken drew closer to the unsuspecting couple. He moved careful so he wouldn't cause any kind of alarm to the officers standing around. Staying out of the couple's sight all the time, he inched closer to the man's back pocket, reaching for the tickets. 'Please, please, please make him not notice… please.' 

Unknown to Ken just a few feet away, Schuldig kept a close eye on the scene, making sure everyone around had something busy to do or on their mind, and no one would pay attention on the young ex-soccer player who was now slowly easing the tickets out of the man's pocket. 

About 5 minutes later Ken was back, standing in front of him, shaking like a leaf. "Don't you… EVER… make me do that again!" 

Schuldig smirked, "Don't worry, Kenken…by the time this whole thing is over, you'll be a master pickpocket." 

Ken glared at the German. "That's the part I'm worried about." 

The redhead chuckled before slinging an arm around Ken's shoulders, "This way, I believe." 

The brunette's feet began to drag more and more as he was led towards the gate. 

--Okay, correction, you're thoughts consist of Aya this, Aya that, and death to all airplanes. Geeze, you're a little scaredy cat. – 

--You're really _NOT_ helping the situation, Schuldig…-- 

The German merely smirked and continued to drag the unwilling Weiss kitty towards the plane. 

Ken struggled violently, trying to break free of Schuldig's hold. "Let go. Damnit Schuldig, I really REALLY don't like planes." 

Schuldig just kept going. "I am aware, but I'm choosing to ignore it." 

"Wait," Ken expression lit up. "we're in France… Ireland is only a hop, skip, and jump away, so to speak. We can take the boat over there." 

Every muscle in Schuldig's body went rigid. He stared at Ken, and then shook his head. "That would take too much time Ken, going by plane is much faster." 

Ken shrugged. "What does it matter, when we travel back in time we'll still go to 90 seconds before the urn breaks." 

The German gave Ken an evil look. "We. Are. Not. Taking. A. Boat." 

"But.." The Weiss assassin blinked a couple of times before he grinned in realization. "You, dear Schuldig, are afraid of boats, aren't you?" 

"I am not afraid of boats!" 

The grin on Ken's face grew even wider. "Su~ure you aren't." 

Schuldig rolled his eyes. "It's not the boats Ken, it's the water. Very deep water." 

Ken blinked. "Nani?" 

--I can't swim, alright?! Geez Ken, how dense can you get?-- 

Ken blushed a little and looked away, not knowing what exactly to say. He somehow wanted to apologize to the longhaired German, but the words didn't want to come to him. Then something else caught his attention entirely. 

'Uhm,' Ken concentrated very hard on his thoughts hoping the Schuldig would pick up on it. 'is it me or are there a lot of guards here? I'm mean, it's an airport and all but, isn't this a little overkill?' 

For a few minutes he believed Schuldig hadn't heard him, for the other assassin just kept going on straight ahead, without a word of acknowledgement. Now Ken was starting to feel antsy. He couldn't ask Schuldig loud, or maybe he was just being paranoid and the guards where here for a different reason entirely. But then why hadn't Schuldig told him so? But what if the German didn't know about what Ken had just noticed? 

He fell in step behind Schuldig, alternating between running his hands through his hair and shoving them into his pockets. He berated himself about his nervousness. He was an assassin after all, something like that should not throw him so completely off balance. But then again, he had always been the hunter, not the hunted. 

--Calm down kaetzchen-- Schuldig's calm voice rang through his mind. --You are acting suspicious.-- 

Ken calmed down just a little. 'So they are after us?' 

He could see the German scan the area without moving one muscle to turn his head. --Honestly, I don't know. Their minds are shielded really well. But alone the fact that they shield doesn't look to good for us ne?-- 

Ken gave his silent consent and looked straight ahead to where a stewardess was checking tickets and directing passengers to their port. 'Is that our plane?' 

--Yes-- 

Ken nodded to himself. 'Alright, let's get going.' 

Next to him Schuldig nodded. --Let's… not draw attention to ourselves.— 

~*~*~ 

Much to Schuldig's disappointment, Ken's resolve didn't last too long. Once he was settled in the plane and the iron bird started to move into take off position Ken realized that his fear of flying was a little more powerful than he realized. And since it wasn't really worth his time to knock Ken unconscious for two hours, he was stuck with listening to Ken's fearful rantings. 

Glancing over, Schuldig wondered how Ken was able to maintain that position…the younger assassin was curled up on his seat while wearing a seatbelt, and was covering his ears with his hands. And he kept muttering to himself, "I don't wanna die, I don't wanna die." 

"Hidaka….Oi, Hidaka, we've land-" Ken was unbuckled and off the plane in two seconds flat, "-ed…geeze, that boy is weird." Schuldig followed Ken at a far more relaxed pace. 

When he found Ken, the other boy was sitting on the floor with his back against the wall. Schuldig rolled his eyes and extended a hand, "C'mon, let's go find a hotel." 

Ken took the German's hand gratefully, "We're probably going to need a new credit card, though…my guess is that the other guy cancelled his by now." 

Schuldig grinned at Ken, "And guess which lucky kitten gets to practice his pick pocketing skills?" 

The younger man glared at him, "Uhm….how about no?" 

"Then we'll just have to sleep on the street." Schuldig shrugged nonchalantly. "Pity too, Ireland is a pretty wet country, if it's in any way like England." 

Ken glowered at the older assassin. "Why don't you do it?" 

Another shrug from Schuldig. "I think I'm doing my fair share by giving us the right passports and visas, and by keeping an eye out for anything that might follow us." 

Ken glared at the German. "Fair share my ass…" 

Schuldig chuckled to himself as Ken stalked off. The kitten was finally developing a better survival sense. Not that he hadn't had one before, but the young man's morals had definitely limited his options. Finally he was relaxing his obsession about what was the right thing to do. 

--The guy in the white suit Ken-- Schuldig said as he relaxed against the wall. –He's going to the U.S. for a business trip…he won't miss his card for at _least_ nine hours. And if it makes you feel any better, he's been cheating on his wife with her brother.— 

Ken's eyes bugged out at that extra little tidbit. Regaining his composure, the Weiss assassin walked into the crowd surrounding Schuldig's chosen victim. Some quick slight of hand, and Ken had the guy's wallet out, credit card in his own pocket, and wallet back. 

"Good job kitten, here, have a cookie," Schuldig patted Ken on the head and gave him a nice, gooey chocolate chip cookie. 

Ken glared at the German, but did _not_ turn down the offered treat, much to Schuldig's amusement. ~I'm glad at least somebody's enjoying this.~ 

--Oh, I'm enjoying this kaetzchen. I couldn't do anything else but.— 

Ken stared at the German before walking resolutely out of the airport, the telepath's laughter following him out. 

~*~*~ 

"Mmmm…This is the life…" Ken lowered himself into the room's Jacuzzi. Upon discovering that this particular hotel had such amenities, Schuldig made sure to get one of the rooms with a hot tub in it. 

The German glanced over to where Ken was relaxing in the hot water. The sight of the ex-soccer player bare-chested and wet was enough to make his mouth go dry. ~Note to self: hot tubs when available.~ 

"Now, aren't you happy we stole that credit card? You get to relax in that hot tub while I plan the bank heist," Schuldig said, stretching out on the bed. 

"Whatever…" Ken's eyes drifted shut. "WAIT A MINUTE!!! HEIST?!!" 

Schuldig muttered to himself, "I thought Brad was the precog…" 

Ken glared at the German. 

The redhead rolled his eyes, "I knew you were going to react that way, and typically precogs are the ones that know the future." 

The glaring continued. 

"Oh, come on, Ken. We can't exactly steal credit cards for as long as it takes us to finish up and go back to Tokyo. They'll find us eventually." 

The glaring intensified. 

"Fine. If you feel that way about it, I won't rob the bank." 

Ken finally relaxed, "Robbing a bank isn't exactly the most inconspicuous past time to have, you know." 

Schuldig sighed, "No duh, Ken. Anyway…Do we know where to go, now that we're in Ireland?" 

Ken waved over at his backpack. "While you were busy jacking off in the bathroom, I swiped some atlases from the newsstand." 

The German glared at Ken briefly before retrieving the said maps. "Awww….my little baby is all grown up and stealing on his own!" Schuldig pantomimed wiping a tear away from his eyes. 

Ken flushed, ducking his head under the surface of the water. "We needed the maps…" 

Schuldig laughed at that. "Of course we did, yet, it doesn't seem like you to just simply steal something. Guess you're more of a survivor than I thought." 

Ken's middle finger was the only answer he got to that. 

The grin on Schuldig's face grew even bigger. –Don't tempt me too much kaetzchen, one day I might take the invitation.— 

~*~*~ 

When Schuldig woke up the next morning Ken was studying several different maps that were spread out all over the floor. The German squinted his eyes and looked at the clock. 8 am. And he had thought Brad had been an early riser. "Since when have you been up kitten?" 

To Schuldig's disappointment, Ken didn't jump. He barely even moved a muscle. "I got up around five. Took a shower and everything, And I believe I know where we have to go." 

"Now I know you're insane," muttered Schuldig, rubbing his eyes sleepily, "getting up at an ungodly hour like that." 

"I think you haven't heard me Schuldig. I said I figured out where we have to go." 

Schuldig yawned and waved Ken off. "That's great kitten, I'm taking a shower." 

Ken stared at the bathroom door as it snapped shut behind the German, barely keeping his temper under control. Only the reminder that Yohji had been just as bad in the morning kept Ken from flat-out yelling at the closed bathroom door. He almost expected to hear the man's slightly nasal voice in his mind, teasing him. But nothing happened. It seemed the German really wasn't much of a morning person at times. 

~*~*~ 

"So meet me at the town square, where the subway is in about… let's say, thirty minutes." 

Ken glared at Schuldig. The older man looked far too innocent for his liking. "And what are you, pray tell, needing an half an hour for?" 

Schuldig gave Ken an amused look. "To get money of course. Honestly Ken, your short term memory needs to get polished up a bit." 

Ken's glare intensified. "Schuldig…" 

"I know, I know," the redhead raised his hands defensively, "I told I wouldn't rob a bank. And I won't." 

Ken's suspicious expression didn't change. "And how will you get money then?" 

Schuldig winked at Ken. "I'll tell you later, right now I better get going. Just make sure to be at the station in 30 minutes… and bring the luggage, okay?" 

Before Ken could answer Schuldig was gone. Frowning, the younger assassin made sure that nothing of theirs would be left behind. With a sigh he sat down. "And what am I supposed to do with the half hour that I have now on my hands?" 

~*~*~ 

Ken sighed, walking down the street. Schuldig had left him in the hotel, in charge of their possessions. And without any food, or cash to get food with. And his stomach was rumbling angrily. And its demands increased as passed a fruit stand. Food… 

Glancing around casually, Ken noticed that nobody was watching him. With some quick slight of hand, Ken snagged two apples off of the stand and continued walking down the street. 

He was twenty feet away when a harsh hand clamped down on his shoulder. "Excuse me, son, but are you planning on paying for those?" 

Ken froze. There was no way he could have gotten caught like this. Between picking someone's pocket in an airport and stealing some apples, he should have gotten away with this before anything else. "Uhm…" 

The shop owner glared at the assassin. "That's what I thought. I think we ought to take a trip to the station." 

Ken paused for only a second before lashing out and kicking the man's feet out from under him. Without hesitating the brunette took off running in the direction he thought the train station was in. 

His powerful soccer legs were quite easily able to outdistance the shop owners, and leaned against the wall, trying to catch his breath. Looking up, he saw Schuldig in the station, looking for him. 

"Oi, Schuldig!" 

The German telepath looked up at his name, and walked towards Ken with a grin on his face. Ken stared at the telepath, particularly at the duffel bag over his shoulder. 

"What did you do?" 

The redhead merely grinned wider, "I got us some money, Kenken. What did you expect?" 

"SCHULDIG! You said you wouldn't…How did you…?" 

--I said that _I_ wouldn't rob a bank…Someone else did it for me.— 

Ken gave the other assassin a LOOK. "And that makes it all better?" 

"If it makes you feel better, kaetzchen, the kids who did it for me were about to go vandalize some public property." 

"Oh, yes, that makes it all better." 

Just then, a loud commotion in the direction Ken came from attracted their attention. A man in a white apron and two cops were approaching the pair with purpose in their steps. 

Schuldig raised and eyebrow and looked at Ken. "Apples?" 

"I was hungry, idiot. You left before we could get breakfast." Ken grabbed Schuldig's wrist and started leading him into the crowd. "C'mon, let's lose them before they can catch us." 

Schuldig willingly followed Ken into the crowd, amused at the younger man's behavior. It didn't take the two assassins long to lose their pursuers, and the two quickly found the ticket booth. 

"So how far did we want to go, Kenken?" 

"Hm? Oh, Tralee. It'll get us closer than we are now." 

"So where are you boys going?" the ticket lady asked. 

Ken beamed at her in his innocent, boyish way. "We're taking a trip to Killarney. I heard it's beautiful over there!" 

The woman smiled at him, "Yes, it is." She handed them the tickets, "There are even rumors of dragons and other serpents in that forest. You boys be careful." 

"Hai!" Ken beamed at her, allowing Schuldig to lead him away. 

The pair was heading towards their train when Ken began looking around anxiously. "Something's following us…" 

Schuldig nodded, "Yes. I feel it, too." --Keep walking…-- 

Ken merely nodded and walked closer to Schuldig. The feeling crept up on them, causing both assassins to become tense. Without warning, Schuldig pushed Ken off to the side and spun around, lashing out with his leg. The man behind him hissed and glared at Schuldig from red glowing eyes. While Ken and Schuldig watched, his back erupted with two black, leathery wings. The skin became black and scaly and his head became elongated. His hand and feet became sharpened and clawed and his tail lashed out, knocking several people off their feet. Long horns grew from his skull and his canines became sharp and pointy. On their other side, another human underwent a similar metamorphis. 

Schuldig took a step back. –Ne, Kenken….let's run.— 

Ken nodded. The two took off at top speed for the nearest exit, but found themselves blocked by one of the demons. By this time, people were running around and screaming in panic, adding to the confusion. 

Without thinking, Ken drew his sword from it's sheath. "I wish I had my bugnuks right about now…I have no idea how to use this thing." 

"At least you're used to blades," Schuldig said, following Ken's lead. 

Ken nodded. The first demon lunged at him, and in a reflexive reaction, Ken swung his sword at the demon, baseball style. 

--Oh, yeah, THAT'LL get him! I'm a sword, not a baseball bat!— 

Ken nearly dropped the weapon, surprise written on his face, "What the-" 

"Ken?" Schuldig asked, keeping an eye on the other demon. 

Ken's demon lunged at him again, and the voice invaded Ken's mind again. –Don't drop me, you fool! Put up a guard!— 

Ken did as the sword commanded, barely succeeding in blocking the attack. 

--Oh, for the love of…Let ME do it!—Ken felt a strange sensation and something took over his body, controlling his movements. The brunette started dancing and weaving through the crowd as though he'd been practicing swordplay for thousands of years, instead of the last thirty seconds. 

Schuldig barely had time to notice the changes in Ken, when the other demon lunged at him. Without thinking about it, the German flung his sword at the approaching demon. 

--Oh, just throw me like that, THAT'LL WORK!-- 

--What the hell?—Schuldig dodged the demon, it's claws missing him by only a few inches. 

--Yeah, just leave me, your ONLY WEAPON, lying in the middle of the road while the demon tries to KILL YOU!— 

The demon attacked again, and Schuldig dodge-rolled to get away, grabbing his sword as he went by it. ~Hopefully, it'll work like Kenken's.~ 

Fortunately for the German, it did as he wished. The same tingling sensation that took over Ken's body affected Schuldig, an the German found that himself moving with the skill and grace of a swordsman of much, much, much more skill than the German knew himself to possess. 

The two new 'expert' swordsmen made short work of the demons. Upon surveying their surroundings, they also discovered that the train station was deserted. 

"Oh, that is gross…" Ken made a disgusted face, staring at the gooey remains of the demons. 

"Then don't look at it, Kaetzchen," Schuldig said, following his own advice. "Now what are we going to do? We can't exactly take the train in this condition." 

--Powers, you'd think that neither of them were ever in a crisis before.— 

--Now, Keiran, don't be so mean.— 

Ken turned hesitantly towards Schuldig. "Schu, is it just me, or are the swords talking…?" 

The German turned to Ken with relief on his face, "So I'm not going insane, then?" 

--Great. They're already doubting their own sanity. What was Keila thinking when she chose these two?— 

--You got me.— 

Ken just kept staring at Schuldig. "Are you absolutely sure we're not insane Schuldig?" 

--You are sane alright! But those police men over there might think differently.— 

Schuldig looked over his shoulder. "Damnit, why do cops always have to show up at the worst possible times?" 

Ken grabbed Schuldig's hand. "Run now, ask questions later. If they catch you with that money-" 

--Me? If I'm counting right there are two people here, Keatzchen.-- Schuldig frowned at Ken. 

--How about you just GO?!— 

Looking at each other the two assassins nodded, and fled the station. 

~*~*~ 

By the time Ken and Schuldig made it out of the city and into farmland like area, the sun was slowly sinking lower towards the horizon. Ken sat down on the ground rubbing his legs. "Gods, I've never hiked this far in my life. My legs are sore. Are you sure we can walk all the way to Killarney?" 

Schuldig sighed. "I thought you were a soccer player? You should be able to take some physical strain." 

Ken glared. "A soccer game lasts 90 minutes, not several hours." 

Schuldig shrugged. 

--You think they are rational enough to talk to us?— 

--Who knows… Keila really picked a weird pair this time.— 

Schuldig glared at the bag in which he had hidden his sword on the way through the city. "Talking swords… the world really must come to an end." 

--No shit Sherlock. What do you think is your job right now?— 

Ken snickered then hid it as a cough when Schuldig glared at him. 

--Now… since we are not fighting for our… your lives anymore, maybe we can introduce ourselves?— 

Ken smiled. "Sure, go right ahead." 

--My name is Lucien, Sword of Light.— 

--And I am Keiran, Sword of Darkness.—A slightly deeper voice followed up. 

Schuldig rolled his eyes. "Name's Schuldig… supposedly I'm the Mage of Death, or something like that." 

"And I'm Ken, Mage of Life, in training of course." 

--Ken… Ken… Wait a damn second! Isn't Ken a guys name?!—Keiran yelled. 

Lucien's voice had an amused tone to it. –Wow Kei, you caught on.— 

--But… no! The Mage of Life can't be a guy. Not if the Mage of Death is male, as he always has been. You know the Mages of Life and Death ALWAYS end up as a pair.— 

Lucien chuckled. --Kei, sometimes your IQ amazes me.— 

Keiran growled. -- You find nothing disturbing in the fact that the mage of Light is a guy?— 

--No, nothing at all.— 

--You are sick!— 

Ken looked at Schuldig with a slight frown. 'Schu, do we bicker like that?' 

Schuldig shook his head. -- No.— 

Ken sighed relieved. 'Good.' 

--TWO MALES SHOULD NOT HAVE A RELATIONSHIP WITH EACH OTHER!!— 

--Oh calm down Kei. In this day and age it's NOT that big a deal.—Lucien replied calmly. 

Keiran gave something similar to a snort. -- It is sick and disturbing.— 

Schuldig looked at the sword nestled in between his clothes. "Great, my sword is a friggin homophobe. Why me? What did I EVER do wrong?!" 

Ken gave Schuldig a look. "Don't make me tell you. It would take a week." 

The German glared at Ken. "How about not. Get up Ken, we have quite a way ahead of us." 

~*~*~ 

Ken collapsed on the ground, earning a glare from the telepath. 

"You're tired already?" 

The Weiss assassin just glared. "Excuse me, Schuldig. I've been walking since before dawn after having been forced to fall asleep on the rock hard ground, freezing my ass off for the past two nights. My feet have blisters. My BLISTERS have blisters. Excuse me for being a little bit cranky." 

Schuldig gave the brunette a look, "C'mon, how much longer can it possible be to Killarney?" 

"At least a hundred more miles." Ken groaned and forced himself to his feet. 

"…Oh." The German continued walking down the road. "Well…Kei? Lu? Care to tell us why, exactly, we're going to Killarney?" 

--Training.— was Kei's simple answer. 

"Training?" Ken asked, trudging along behind Schuldig. "What kind of training?" 

--Nothing major,-- Lucien replied, --sword play, magic, some common knowledge that you'll need…Don't worry, the dragons are excellent teachers.— 

--Haven't killed a student in…a couple thousand years.—Kei chimed in. 

Ken and Schuldig looked at each other. "Dragons?" 

--Yeah, you know, giant, flying, fire-breathing lizards?— 

Schuldig rolled his eyes, "This sounds wonderful. Suicide is beginning to look more and more like a feasible option." 

Ken silently agreed. "How long, exactly, is this training going to take?" 

The brunette had the distinct impression that, if swords could shrug, Keiran would be doing so. –Who knows? Could take days, could take years, could take decades.— 

Ken stopped suddenly, "DECADES!" The brunette was suddenly overcome with a wave of grief as he thought about Aya, and how long it would take for him to see the redhead again. 

Schuldig's face scrunched up, "KEN! You're thinking again!" 

The brown-eyed boy gave the blue-eyed man a look. "Isn't that…generally a good thing?" 

"Not when you're thinking of that redheaded ice bitch." 

"….Please don't refer to Aya as a 'bitch'" 

Schuldig rolled his eyes, "Alright, alright mother. Chill out." 

Ken glared at the German briefly before thinking, and thinking rather loudly, of all the flowers the shop sold, in alphabetical order, and all possible meanings. 

"KEN!" 

The Japanese man was about to reply when a truck pulled up on the side of the road. Schuldig took off, walking towards the truck with purpose in his step. –C'mon, he'll give us a ride.— 

Ken was up and following Schuldig in a heartbeat. 

The man rolled down his windows. He was rather large, built in the way that only hard, physical labor can make a person. 

"Name's Mihall. You boys need a ride?" 

Schuldig flashed the man a charming grin, "We're heading towards Killarney…You wouldn't happen to be going that way, would you?" 

Mihall smiled, "As a matter of fact, I sure am." 

Schuldig grinned at Ken. "No more walking." 

Ken eyed the truck driver, and noticed to his disdain that the burly man was currently lighting a cigarette. He forced a smile on his face. "That's great…. I call window seat!" 

Schuldig looked at Ken and then shrugged, climbing up the few steps to the drivers' cabin. He scooted in, making space for Ken as the younger man swung up. 

Lu snickered. –Great, less bitching about all the walking.— 

Keiran tsked. – With our luck they'll find something else to bitch about.— 

Schuldig glared down at his bag when Mihall pulled back onto the road. –Shut up both of you.— 

'Schuldig, calm down.' Ken stole a glace at his current partner. 

The sound that Lu made came close to a human clicking his tongue. –Kei tell me,-- the sword said, making sure their human partners couldn't hear him. –Do we bicker like they do at times?— 

There was a long pause until Keiran finally answered. –No Lu, no we don't.— 

~*~*~ 

Schuldig kept a growl of anger deep inside him. He really preferred the ride to walking, and he could read from Ken's mind that the younger man did too. But this Mihall guy was getting really insufferable. 

Schuldig in general had nothing against flirting, being the kind of person who did it in great amount quite frequently. But he would at least stop when he noticed that his quarry wasn't interested. But their driver didn't seem to be of the kind. 

Schuldig had managed to ignore the first few sideway comments that the hefty man had made, though the term 'pretty boy' was definitely a no-do with him now. Schuldig now longed to kill the person who had the bright idea of coming up with it. Next to him Ken was radiating annoyance, which didn't help Schuldig calm down one bit. 

"Now, I know it's not my business, but what is a pretty boy like you planning to do in Killarney. That place is pretty much woods and nothing else." (A.N.: Or so we think since there is a National Park there.) 

Schuldig bit his cheek before he said something rude. Reminding himself that it couldn't be much longer until they reached their destination, he forced a polite remark. "That would be the point of us going there. You see, my friend and I are really into nature and stuff." 

Mihall looked at Schuldig. "Are you now? Well I have a few days of vacation after this haul. If you want I can show you around, you know what I mean?" 

The driver raised his eyebrow in what Schuldig thought was supposed to be a suggestive manner. It had the total opposite effect on him. Another fake smile. "Oh that's alright, wouldn't want you to waste your vacation on us." 

Mihall laughed. "Oh no, it would be my pleasure, really." 

Schuldig was about to reply when he felt a large hand on his knee. That was the last straw for the redhead. 

~*~*~ 

Ken was seething quietly. Why he was so mad he really didn't know. He supposed that he was irked on his teammates behalf. Having this Mihall guy flirting with you _couldn't_ be very fun, after all. And he certainly wasn't Schuldig's type, not to mention that, Schuldig had indicated his disinterest. Quite clearly. 

Yes, it had to be annoyance that the man was bothering his partner. After all, he liked Aya, didn't he? 

"WAAAAIIII!!!!" 

Ken jumped as Mihall let out a wild whoop, glancing over to see Schuldig sliding into the driver's side seat and pulling the door closed. 

"Did you just push him out?" 

"No." 

"Then you made him jump, didn't you?" 

"Yes." 

"It was that bad, huh?" 

"Yes." 

The rest of the ride went by in silence. 

~*~*~ 

The pair ditched the truck right outside of the park and snuck in past the entrance gate. It was a simple matter for two highly trained professionals such as they. And so they began wandering around the large forest, completely lost, and not getting any help from their talking swords. 

Ken sighed, peering at the setting sun from underneath the canopy. "Dragons. We're searching a freakin' Irish forest for _dragons_" 

--Don't sound so worked up, Ken. They only kill when they're hungry.—Lucien said, trying to sound reassuring. 

--Or if they're annoyed.—Kei broke in, not missing the chance to tease the Life Mage. 

Schuldig glanced around at the forest, feeling jumpy and out of his element. "I could really use my gun right about now…at least I know how to use that." 

--Nobody gets used to Kei…He's the less desirable of us.—Lucien piped up. 

--Me? I don't think so, Lucien—Keiran interrupted, --What are you gonna do? Shield people to death?— 

--Hmph! Well, what happens when, due to your total lack of defensive ability, your mage is only seconds away from death, huh?— 

--Hah! Did you _see_ Schuldig move? He's fast enough, he won't get hurt easily.— 

--Yeah, when fifty demons are after one person…I love those odds.— 

"WILL YOU BOTH SHUT UP!!! You're giving me one hell of a headache." Schuldig shouted, surprising both of the swords. 

Ken giggled, "You two are worse than Yohji and Aya, after Yotan's been out 'til God knows when, smoking and drinking and participating in fifteen member orgies." 

Schuldig blinked at the younger assassin, "Okay, Ken, that was an image I _so_ did not need." 

Ken shrugged, "He claims it only happened the one time…unfortunately, it was in the apartments, so we all ended up finding somewhere else to stay the night." 

The German shuddered, "And Crawford says that _I'm_ bad." 

"They sound like children, Braddock," a female voice said from nowhere and everywhere. 

"They sure do, Charlene," a male voice answered. 

Ken and Schuldig both stopped dead in their tracks as a large bronze dragon and a slightly smaller green dragon emerged from between the trees. 

The bronze dragon lowered his head to look at the pair, "I am Braddock, leader of the Killarney Dragons. Welcome to Basic Training." 

~*~*~ 

Schu: *laughs evil* Haha!! Death to the evil pervert!! 

Day: Uhm… Schuschu… why would you want to kill yourself? 

Ken: I think he was referring to Mihall, Day-chan. 

Day: But he's evil…. And he's a pervert… lusting all over my Kenken *glomps Ken* 

Ken: *wheez* Air…. Need…. Air…. 

Moon: Day if he dies then the world order will never be restored 

Day: But… *cuddles Ken* 

Moon: Once the fic is done you can cuddle him all you want. 

Day: Promise? 

Moon: Promise 

Day: Otay!! Sorry readers!! Gotta run and write part 3!! *grabs Ken and Moon and races off* 


	3. Chapter 3

Day: *walks in wrapped in a towel* Well, that was fun. What do you boys think of this little break so far? 

Aya:....We've been stuck inside doing all the cooking. What do you think? And just _where_ is Ken? 

Moon: *also walks in with a towel* Oh, don't worry, he's coming. 

Day: *giggles* quite literally, ne, Moon? 

Moon: Well...we took them skinny dipping...How the hell are we supposed to keep them from having hot kinky river sex? 

Day: *shrugs* Got me. 

Aya:....You took Ken skinny dipping.... 

Yohji: Here it comes. 

Moon: *drops her towel and gets dressed* Yeah. 

Aya: Without me!? 

Day: You're dead. 

Aya:....?? 

Day: *points at his halo* 

Yohji: So you can make us dead people cook, but we can't go skinny dipping and watch Ken and Schu having hot kinky river sex? 

Day: Pretty much... 

Figleaf: Please don't take this conversation to mean that there is a lemon in this part. If that comes, it'll come _much_ later. Enjoy anyway. 

--HI BRAD!—Lucien squealed. 

Schuldig jumped. "Bradley?" 

Ken gave the telepath a look, "I think the sword was talking to the dragon." 

The German shot him a dirty look. "Ha. Ha. Ha." 

The dragon looked between the two humans, before speaking, "Keila did send you, did she not?" 

"You mean that wench that dumped these," Schuldig lifted Keiran up, "On us?" 

Braddock blinked at them, "Err…yes. The Sword of Light and the Sword of Dark. Of Life and of Death." 

The German rolled his eyes, "Yes, yes, whatever. She technically didn't send us. That we got here was just plain dumb luck." 

"For once, I agree with him," Ken said, "I mean, she didn't even explain anything." 

"Of course not," Braddock sounded affronted, "If you are to survive, we must train you. If we are to train you, you must prove your resourcefulness." 

"Oh…so after this whole training thing, you'll point us in the direction of this gate place?" Schuldig said, sounding somewhat hopeful. 

Braddock laughed, the sound of it startling the two humans, "No…none of the Dragons of Killarney know where the gate is." 

"WAS?" "NANI?" Two voices choused the same question in the same breath. 

Schuldig later would have sworn the dragon smirked at them, "All we do is train you in your inherent magical abilities. Come, follow me. It is getting late." With that, Braddock turned and started leading the pair through the woods. 

"Wait a minute! We don't have time for this!" Schuldig exclaimed. 

"On the contrary, Death," Braddock said, not turning to look at them, "You are working towards going back in time. You have all the time you need." 

The group traveled through the forest twilight. Ken found himself entranced by the forest, and the life in it. Schuldig found himself entranced b Ken, and the pure delight the younger assassin took in just watching the forest. 

The group walked all through the forest, until after the sun had completely set. Braddock led the two assassins to a cave, well hidden between the trees. The bronze-toned dragon led the two humans through a long winding series of caves and caverns, until they emerged into an area of open sky. 

There were two dragons already there, waiting for them. 

Braddock left them in the middle of clearing, and went to join his kin. 

"As I said before, I am Braddock, and I am going to be overseeing your training. Next to me is Charlene-" 

"I can introduce myself, Braddykins." A pale blue female spoke. She turned to them, somehow less imposing than Braddock, "Like Brad said, my name is Charlene, and I"ll be in charge of languages. Devon, who is not here right now, will be in charge of ancient scripts and writings." 

"And I'll be in charge of teaching 'ya history," The other dragon said from the shadows where she was hiding. "My name is Mari. And Charlene would let this go on all night if I let her. You'll be meeting the rest of us over the next several days." 

Ken looked at the three beasts. "There are more of you?" 

Mari dipped her head, which Ken interpreted as a nod. "Yes," she said in a smooth voice, seemingly unfitting to something her size. "there are ten dragons currently living in the vale." 

"Ten," Schuldig mused. "interesting. How come no one has seen you yet." 

A small chuckle came from Keiran. –It's their dragon magic. They only will be seen when they want to be seen.— 

"I see… and why did they want us to see them. For all they know, we could have been normal tourists." 

Ken gave Schuldig an incredulous look. "Tourists? In the middle of the night?! I think you have a few screws missing Schu." 

Schuldig blew Ken a raspberry as Charlene answered. "The swords Lucien and Keiran, the swords of Light and Dark, are well known to us in this vale. We felt their presence on you." 

Both humans blinked. "O-kay…" 

Braddock shook his head. "Whenever the swords enter this forest it is, again, time for us dragons to train the future saviors of the world" 

Ken shook is head. "That just makes me feel much better…" 

Schu blinked. "What do you mean Ken?" 

Ken looked at Schuldig. "Future saviors always are being hunted down. My night job isn't bad enough already? Hell even my day job is hazardous enough." 

The German rolled his eyes. "What's so frightening about a bunch of shrieking teenage girls?" 

Ken glared at the red-head. "You're just jealous because their after me and you don't have any fangirls." 

Schuldig leered at Ken. "Who said I wanted fan_girls_?" 

Ken opened his mouth to reply but Keiran beat him to it. –PERVERT!!— 

Lucien chuckled. 

The three dragons looked at each other. "This doesn't bode well…" 

Charlene chuckled and looked at Braddock. "Oh don't be so glum. Gerald and Miranda where not much better then those two right now. And they were the greatest mage pair ever trained in the vale." 

Braddock turned his gaze back to the bickering assassins. "Let's hope for the best then, shall we?" 

~*~*~ 

Ken was sitting down on a log, leaning over a slate when Schuldig plopped down next to him. 

"What's up, Kenken?" 

~Go away, Schuldig, I'm busy.~ 

"That's no nice, Ken! I'm just here, inquiring about your well being." 

Ken looked up from his slate. "Devon has decided that I'm not learning Hieroglyphics fast enough, and has assigned me about twenty-five to memorize by our next meeting. On top of that, Chloe gave me about three scrolls of Heal spells to memorize, and Mikhael says I'm too aggressive with Lucien. Hello, I'm an assassin! Of COURSE I go in for the kill aggressively!" 

"Whoa, Kenken…calm down and take a deep breath…3…2…1…that's it…" 

Ken glared at the redhead. "Ha. Ha. Ha. Don't you have weapons practice to be at?" 

Schuldig shrugged, "Mikhael's classes are boring. I'd rather sit here and bother you." 

"I'd rather you didn't. If I don't get these memorized, Devon will use me as the piñata for the New Year's party." 

Schuldig looked at the sky. "It is strange." 

Ken raised an eyebrow. "What is?" 

"This place." Schuldig leaned forward and rested his chin in his knees. "No matter what season, this vale is always like spring. And now that you mentioned New Year it just dawned on me that we've been here for more than 6 months already." 

Ken looked up from his slate and blinked. "You're right. Amazing, it didn't feel like that much time passed." 

"Well, our winged teachers tend to keep us rather busy." 

Ken snorted. "Me yes, you no." 

Schuldig frowned. "What's that supposed to mean." 

"It means that you are the worst lesson skipping human ever since Daniel." A raspy voice spoke from behind them. 

Schuldig jumped and turned around, to see the weapons master standing right behind them, already in his human form. "Master Miki," the redhead chuckled nervously, "what brings you here?" 

"Finding delinquent students is what brings me here, Schuldig. And that is Master Mikhael to you." 

Schuldig ducked his head, hoping that the gesture would somewhat appease the angry dragon. "Sorry, but Ken and I rarely get to see each other anymore, just wanted to chat for a bit." 

The weapons master shook his head. "You can talk to him after dinner. Now lets use what time we have left to train you in the use of your sword." 

Schuldig nodded and got up, heading for his quarters. 

"Where are you going?" 

"I gotta pick up y sword, unless you want to fight me with fists." 

Mikhael's eyes narrowed. "You left Keiran behind? SCHULDIG!! How often do I have to tell you to _never_ leave your sword behind?" 

Schuldig waved his hand lazily. "Nothing will happen. We are in a valley protected by dragon spells. It is more likely for the world to end tomorrow than someone finding us here." 

It didn't take him long to notice the dirty looks that both, Ken and Mikhael, were giving him. He sighed and shook his head. "Right, that could happen now couldn't it. I get Keiran and I'll be right there." 

Ken watched the German disappear between a line of trees, shaking his head. Sometime he wondered just how serious Schuldig took his role in this. 

~*~*~ 

The firebolts kept landing near him, just a tad bit close for comfort. Not that the firebolts were comfortable at all to begin with. 

~A wall…just visualize a wall and then add to it later…~ Ken told himself, before the firebolt landing two feet in front of him caused him to jump back. ~Ignore that they're frebolts…they aren't fire, they're…they're ice…just think that they're ice.~ 

"Dammit, Hidaka, You should be able to block things during combat by now! These are simple firebolts, not even a very high level spell!" Sean, a rust red dragon, shouted at him. Sean was the dragon in charge of Defensive Magic, and while he spent some time with Schuldig, the majority of his time was spent teaching Ken how to build custom shields. 

Ken sighed, dodging another bolt while Sean lectured him. The brown-eyed assassin had an especially difficult time with this part of his training. He was used to being an aggressive killer…he was used to getting up close and personal with his target. He used bugnucks for crying out loud! 

And then Sean had chosen firebolts…It was hard to concentrate on a wall when he kept thinking about Kase in this exercise. 

"Visualize a wall between you and the danger, Hidaka…Don't worry about specializing your shield and making it water to neutralize the firebolts." 

~What do you think I'm trying to do, baka dragon…~ Ken rolled to the side, and right into the other bolt. The one he _hadn't_ seen coming. 

"Enough," Sean sighed, slinking up to him, "That's enough for today. We'll continue tomorrow. I'll tell Chloe that I'll be taking you out of her lesson tomorrow. You're far enough advanced with that branch of your magic." 

Ken lay on his back, glaring up at the dragon, trying to not superimpose Kase on him, "She won't be happy about that, Master Sean. She gets possessive about her time with me, since she doesn't get Schuldig at all." 

"And what's the point in teaching a Death mage Heal spells? He couldn't use them. Now, heal yourself up so that those burns don't scar you, and I'll see you tomorrow." 

Ken sigh, letting the pain flow through him. It wasn't bad, especially when compared to injuries he'd had before. But Sean just _had_ to use firebolts, didn't he? Eventually he pushed himself up and healed the minor burning on his side, completely avoiding the existing scars. 

Ken knew he should go to his next lesson with Devon, but found himself wanting to take a page out of Schu's book and skipping his writing lesson. 

--Then do it. There is no way you will learn anything if you keep thinking about how desperately you want the lesson to end—The German's nasal voice rang in his head. 

Ken started a little but quickly regained his composure. ~Schu! Don't DO that.~ 

--He's right though.—Lucien quipped from behind Ken where the sword was strapped to his back. 

Ken blinked. "Are you actually telling me to skip a lesson? I thought you and Kei are the responsible ones in our little group." 

--We are. But when Schuldig is right he's right, even if that doesn't happen often.— 

Ken chuckled at the swords droll tone. 

--Not to mention it's been over a year and you never once skipped a lesson, doing it once won't hurt. Maybe you and Schuldig can just sit and talk. I could talk to Keiran again too.— 

"You mean if he has Keiran with him." Ken grinned. 

--Yeah, if.— 

~*~*~ 

Danea lashed her tail in irritation as Schuldig's summoning spell failed yet again. Schuldig too looked equally frustrated. "Look I'm sorry but summoning is kinda hard." 

"Had you brought Keiran as your medium it would be really easy. How often have we told you to never leave your sword behind?" 

Schuldig growled. "I lost count after the first few weeks of training." 

Danea sighed. "This isn't working. Tomorrow you will bring your lunch and we will make this a double lesson. And _bring_ Keiran." 

"But…" 

A low growl answered his protest. "You will never master the dark arts if you do not train vigilantly." 

The redhead muttered but nodded. Danea could have a nasty temper at times and he really didn't feel like pissing off a female dragon that was the size of an average two story house. 

"So I'm dismissed?" 

Danea inclined her head. "Get out of here before I forget why you are here and I make you my dinner. Not to mention someone is waiting for you." 

Schuldig's eyes followed the direction her tail pointed and a smile came to his lips. Ken was watching from between some willows, obviously waiting for Schuldig's lesson to be over. After excusing himself from Danea, not being stingy with compliments, he hurried over to where the Japanese boy stood. 

"Tough lesson?" Ken asked as the German approached. 

Schuldig rolled his eyes, "Danea is pure evil, I swear." 

--Hello, Dark Arts teacher…what do you expect?— 

"…She could TRY to be nice." 

"I think she's very nice," Ken said, wandering down one of the many trails in the valley, "At least, she's always been pleasant to me." 

"She's not your teacher," Schuldig said dryly, walking along right beside him, "If she were, you wouldn't be so kind to her…What is that?" 

Ken looked up at him, "What is what? This basket? I thought we could get away from that cave and have lunch by the stream." 

The redhead grinned widely, "Sounds good to me. You have the afternoon free too, right?" 

Ken nodded, "Yeah, I finished Shields early. I'm finally getting it down really well. And it's about time, too." 

Reaching the small river Schuldig picked up a stone and made it skip on the calm water before sitting down. "Wish I was that lucky. Summoning is a bitch, I just can't get the hang of it." 

--Maybe if you'd bring Keiran to your lessons it would be easier.—Lu commented dryly. 

Schuldig rolled his eyes. "Not you too. I keep hearing this lecture over and over, it's getting old." 

--Then maybe you should actually take him with you instead of leaving him in that old cave.— 

"Are you kidding Lucien? The dragons would die of shock if Schuldig would just one day start carrying his sword around." Ken chuckled. 

Schuldig let himself fall into the soft grass. "Now wouldn't _that_ be a shame." He commented wryly. 

Sitting next to the German Ken shrugged. "I still think it's kinda neat being here. Some of the things we learned are just… wow." 

"Yeah, yeah," The redhead closed his eyes. "Awe-inspiring and stuff." 

Ken sighed. "Don't be that way Schuldig. You're just cranky because you had a bad day. Here eat something." 

Sitting up Schuldig took a bowl from Ken setting it quickly on the ground. "That's hot, what is it?" 

Ken retrieved more things from the basket. "Some stew that Danea set up earlier this morning." 

Taking of the protective lid, Schuldig eyed the concoction warily. "Are you sure it's not poisoned?" 

Ken laughed, "I'm sure, Schuldig. Even if it is, don't you trust me?" Ken looked at him with his big brown puppy dog eyes. 

Schuldig opened him mouth to reply when the thought flitted across Ken's mind, ~If only it was Aya here…~ 

"Sure I trust you, Kenken…but Chloe hasn't taught you everything she knows yet…" 

Ken frowned at the unidentifiable _something_ in Schuldig's tone. "Schuldig?" 

"Don't worry about it Kenken…feel like a swim?" The German stood up and headed towards the water. 

"Swim? But…" 

"But what, Kitten?" 

Ken rolled his eyes, "Don't call me that. We don't have any swimsuits, duh." 

Schuldig grinned, "That's the point." 

The brown-haired assassin blushed, "SCHULDIG!" 

His answer was a splash, as the red-head leaped into the cool water. 

Looking away quickly Ken fought not to blush. What was the idiot thinking, jumping into the water like that. 

"Come on Ken, what are you waiting for!?" 

Ken turned before he could stop himself. This time he couldn't stop the blush that could be seen as a light rose under his tan. Schuldig was standing in the middle of the stream the water just barely over his waist. He had his arms spread wide in invitation. 

The brunette opened and closed his mouth, trying to find an excuse to not strip down and join his comrade in the water. 

"Don't just stand there and gape like a fish out of water. Come on in, it feels great." 

Ken shook his head frantically. "What if someone sees us?" 

"Like who? A bunch of lizards? Your sword? Please," Schuldig rolled his eyes. "Here I'll even turn around so you can get undressed in private." 

Ken blushed more but started to undress once Schuldig had his back to him. "No peaking!" 

"Not like you got anything I don't… unless, is there something you want to tell me Kenken?" 

The amused tone in Schuldig's voice irritated Ken a little but then again, he had left himself wide open with that one. Walking to the shore he slipped into the water quietly, kneeling into the cooling stream. It really did feel good as the water refreshed his tired muscles. 

"See, I told you it's great." 

Ken nodded. "Aa." The brunette ducked his head under the water, completely cooling himself off. Standing, Ken shook his head to rid his hair of the excess water. 

Schuldig blinked, seeing the burn scars that decorated Ken's chest, and he assumed, back. 

Ken noticed the redhead staring, "What?" He asked a bit defensively. 

"Nothing," the German shook his head. "Uhm…Where did-" 

The younger assassin's entire body went stiff, "None of your business." 

Schuldig rolled his eyes, "Come off it, Ken, don't _you_ trust _me_?" 

"….I'd rather not talk about it." Ken crossed his arms over his chest. 

The redhead raised an eyebrow, "That bad?" 

"You have no idea. It… these scars, they are the reminder of why I joined Kritiker." 

Schuldig whistled through his teeth. "Sorry, didn't mean to bring up the past. Even though, it might help to talk about it, you know, 's what the shrinks always say." 

Ken looked Schuldig in the eyes. "…… You tell anyone else, and I'll gut you with Keiran's help you understand?" 

Schuldig nodded and watched as Ken waded to more shallow water, sitting on one of the rocks there. After a while he followed and sat next to the younger man, listening as Ken talked about the J-League, his friend Kase, and the fire that had in the end caused him to work for Kritiker. 

~*~*~ 

Mikhael stood in his human guise as both of his pupils joined him for the lesson. They'd been in the valley for four years, and were progressing nicely in all areas of their magical development. A moment later, Sean joined him at the edge of the clearing. 

"Do you honestly think they're ready for this?" Sean asked, settling down. 

"Yeah, I think so." 

"Really?" Sean asked, before turning away from the other dragon. 

Mikhael ignored Sean, watching the two enter the arena. He smiled slightly, as Schuldig started chasing Ken around, Ken clearly having been teasing the redhead about something or other. The dragon let the two chase each other around for a while before calling for their attention. 

"Today we're going to try something a little different." Mikhael informed the pair. 

"Oh?" asked Ken, coming to a stop in front of the weapons master, "What kind of something different?" 

The dark haired weapons master looked at them, "You two are going to spar. Use whatever spells and skills you have at your disposal." 

Schuldig blinked. "Are you sure that's a good idea?" 

Sean shrugged. "Mikhael thinks you're ready, and he's the expert. You should be fine as long as you remember your training." 

--Well that fight should be over quickly.—Keiran said smugly. –After all Life and Light only know defensive spells.— 

A snort answered him. –And what good is all the offensive magic when you can't get through a protective shield?—Lucien asked snidely. 

"Enough already," Mikhael silenced the swords, "you two are not to intervene in this fight. Let the two do it on their own, just act as a medium for their spells." 

Sean looked at Ken. "Don't forget, just concentrate on the shields, and you'll be fine." 

Ken nodded and watched as Schuldig walked a few paces away and slowly removed Keiran's sheath from his back. In training they never kept the extra leather on their backs unless instructed to. Slowly he took his own place, readying himself for the fight. Something inside him didn't want to fight his partner, something didn't seem right. 

--Don't worry so much,—Lucien said calmly as Ken unsheathed the bluish blade. –It's just a sparring match, not a real fight.— 

"I should fight like it is one though. Underestimating a fight can mean the end." 

Ken was sure if Lucien could have, he would have nodded in approval.—Very good. Now pay attention, I'm not allowed to help you through this.— 

Looking ahead Ken took the fighting stance that Mikhael had drilled into him for the last 4 years, facing Schuldig. He noticed that the German's stance was quite different from his, a little more open but too offensive to allow an opponent a save strike. 

Mikhael looked from one to the other. "Ready… FIGHT!" 

Ken barely had time to register what was going on when Schuldig was upon him, charging with the same speed that he had used once to dodge Yohji's wire. Bringing his sword down in a wide arch Ken managed to block quite easily but had a hard time bringing any distance between him and the German. Blow after blow he blocked not giving Schuldig an opening to strike true. 

"Ken! Just because you're mostly a defensive fighter does not mean you can't initiate at all!" Mikhael's words came from somewhere behind him. 

~He says that like I'm not trying…~ Ken clenched his teeth. This wasn't getting him anywhere. 

So he did something that no one had been expecting. Falling back to his assassin training he dropped to his knees, and using his arms to support him he pulled Schuldig's leg out from under him. With a yell of surprise the German fell on his back while Ken was already back to his feet. 

Schuldig for his part stared at the sky, blinking and trying to get his wind back. 

--Oh that was mean kitten…-- 

Ken just grinned. "Hey all is fair in love and war." 

"Well," Schuldig said as he got back to his feet, "if _that_ is how you want to play, fine with me." 

Ken blinked confused as Schuldig leaped back, quickly increasing the distance between them. What was the German up to now? It hit him when Schuldig raised his sword above his head, eyes closed in concentration. He leaped to the side, rolling off the impact and looked up to see a streak of lighting hitting the spot he had just been standing in. 

"Damn… Schuldig are you trying to kill me?!" 

"That would be the idea of this exercise." Mikhael commented from the sideline. "Or at least beating you in battle." 

Ken growled deep in his throat. ~How am I supposed to save the world if I die training first. These guys have a whacked out sense of humor, really.~ 

"Ken, you can not beat him with magic yet! Use your shields to get close to him and engage him in physical combat!" Sean's voice cut through his thoughts. 

Ken brought Lucien up in front of him again. "Great. Just fucking great." 

He dodged another lightning attack from his partner and turned to face him. He needed a shield to block the lighting, and that quick. Closing his eyes he focused, imagining a sphere around him, a sphere that wouldn't let the lighting in. Slowly he added more and more power to his shield, feeling it weakening every time one of Schuldig's attacks struck it. He kept his mind focused, letting the energy run through Lucien and from him into the shield. 

He barely registered someone screaming his name when he felt a sharp pain in the left side of his ribcage. His breath left him and his eyes opened. In front of him stood Schuldig, eyes wide in shock as he stared at Ken. "Ken… I… Why didn't you move?" 

Ken tried to process what Schuldig meant, but all he could do was concentrate on breathing. It was so hard, what had happened? Then suddenly the pain faded, along with anything else and he fell backwards, collapsing on the grass. 

Schuldig couldn't do anything but watch as Ken slipped off his blade and then laid still in the grass. Some part of him knew that he should check on the Japanese man, and then try to stem the blood that was flowing freely from the wound, but is body had gone numb. All he could see was his sword impaling the younger man over and over. 

Strong hands were on his shoulder, pushing him backwards. Someone was talking to him but he barely registered what was said. All he could do was staring at Ken's prone body without really seeing it. 

He dimly noticed Sean running off, probably to get Chloe. He really hoped he would make it in time. Then the numbness of his body overtook him and the last thing he felt was Keiran slipping from his hold before the world turned black. 

~*~*~ 

Ken came to, staring at the cavern above him. It appeared he was in his cave, and the pain in his chest had been reduced to a pale throbbing. That meant Chloe must've healed him after the sparring match. That wasn't unexpected, since she was the best at what she did. 

Movement on the fringes of his peripheral vision caught his attention, and he turned his head to find Sean sitting next to him. He assumed it was Sean, anyway, since whoever it was in a Human form. 

"So you're awake, are you?" The voice confirmed his suspicions. "It's about time, too. Idiot, concentrating on your shield so much. That'll get you killed in a real fight. It almost got you killed in a sparring match!" 

Ken opened his mouth to speak, but Sean cut him off, "Don't even say it. I don't want to hear your excuses. As soon as you're able, you'll be doubling your lessons both with me and with Mikhael." 

Ken groaned, turning back to the ceiling. Double lessons? That was going to suck, and not in a good way, either. 

"Anyway," Sean spoke again, drawing his attention away from the doom of double lessons, "I'm going to go get Schuldig. He made me swear to tell him when you woke up. And between you and me," the dragon leaned down towards Ken with a confidential air, "Mik was mighty impressed by your little tripping move." 

Ken grinned, sitting up in his cot. Before he could even say a word, however, Sean was gone. The brunette assassin sighed, bored after only a few seconds of being left alone. He'd assumed that since Sean went to go tell Schuldig that he was awake that the German would have arrived shortly to visit, but the redhead never showed. 

It was after dinner (Chloe had brought him his meal, and, to Ken's dismay, gave him a scroll of plants and their medicinal properties to memorize) before Schuldig finally came to Ken's room. 

The brunette was dozing when his assassin instincts kicked in and told him he was being watched. Pretending to be asleep, Ken listened as the someone approached. 

"Oi, Kaetzchen…" The voice gave Schuldig away. Ken was startled at the guilt in the German's voice. He was even more surprised when he reached down and brushed Ken's hair out of his eyes. 

Before the redhead could leave, Ken's hand shot out and grabbed the other's wrist. Schuldig jumped at that, surprised at the unreadable look in Ken's now wide open eyes. 

"Where were you earlier, Schuldig?" the Japanese assassin asked in a low tone, "I thought we were friends." 

"I didn't think you'd want to see me. After all…" 

Ken rolled his eyes, "Damn straight you didn't think." 

Schuldig glared, "Well, after I…that is to say…" 

"Guilt doesn't suit you." 

"What?" 

Ken released Schuldig's wrist, confident that the other wasn't going to bolt, "Just what I said, guilt doesn't suit you…You're supposed to be cocky and arrogant." 

"Well thanks for that evaluation, Kitten." 

"It's true," Ken sat up slowly, "You're supposed to come in here, acting all arrogant about the fact that I let my guard down." 

Schuldig blinked. "I… but…" 

Ken shook his head. "It is not your fault that I obviously can't multitask. That's something Sean and Mikhael will drill into me as soon as Chloe says I can get up though. If I had paid just a bit more attention to you and not just your spells you'd have never caught me off guard like that." 

Schuldig sighed. "Still, I'm sorry, it must have hurt." 

Ken shrugged. "Well, yeah, but the pain is almost gone now." 

He blinked when Schuldig ran a finger along the edge of the bandage that covered his chest. Then as sudden as it had been there the touch was gone. "Did you have dinner yet?" 

Ken nodded. "Yes, Chloe brought it earlier with more homework." 

Schuldig grinned a little. "No rest for the wicket, ne? Well I better go and see if I can scavenge something or I'll go hungry until breakfast. I see you tomorrow." And with a smile the German was gone. 

Ken slowly settled down in bed again, glad that this small situation had been worked out. Thinking about what would happen in the morning he didn't even notice that his own fingers kept retracing the path Schuldig's had taken right at the edge of the bandage. 

~*~*~ 

~Five years,~ thought Ken as he watched Schuldig pack up their meager possessions. ~Amazing how five years can change a person…I never would've thought that Schuldig and I would have become friends, and now we're about to go and save the world together.~ 

Schuldig lifted his backpack to his shoulder. "Well, I'm ready now. What about you?" 

Ken nodded, "I've been ready since day one, haven't you?" 

"HA! It'll be great to get away from Mikhael and his hard ass lessons." 

"You think that's bad?" The brunette raised an eyebrow, "At least you didn't have to memorize the medicinal properties for each and every plant you've ever come across. Did you know that a poultice of gentians and rose petals will draw out the poison of a South African frog spirit?" 

"No, really?" Schuldig said, rather sarcastically, "Well, let's get going, I want to get out of this valley and back into civilization as quickly as possible." 

Ken nodded, "Hai, hai. C'mon, I think Braddock and everyone wants to talk to us before we leave…You _did_ remember to strap Keiran to your back, did you not?" 

"Yes, mother," Schuldig answered, "And I took my medicine and crossed my I's and dotted my t's." 

"…it's crossed your T's and dotted your I's." 

"Whatever." Schuldig led Ken into the main clearing, where, five years before, they had been led by Braddock and met Mira and Charlene. 

Today, all of their teachers were present, waiting for them with loads of advice for the newly trained mages. 

"Remember, Ken, it can be very difficult to differentiate between Ancient Arabic and the Babylonian written scripts," Devon said, followed by Mira's desire that they remember that even trivial historical knowledge could save a life. Charlene's advice was to practice languages, or they'd lose them, while Chloe begged Ken to remember the difference between the common plant 'poison ivy' and the magical cure for menstrual cramps of 'three-leafed forest cover.' Danea cautioned Schuldig on keeping in mind that black demons were quite ferocious creatures while extremely dark grey demons were merely very ferocious. 

Finally, Mikhael and Sean approached the pair, "Remember, Ken…multitasking is a good thing…" Sean said with a grin. "You keep him in line, Schuldig." 

"Aa," Schuldig smirked, ignoring Ken's glare. 

Mikhael rolled his eyes, "And remember that being a defensive mage doesn't mean you can't attack…As I'm sure Schuldig remembers." The weapons master grinned, referring, not only to Ken's surprise attack the day the brunette assassin had been injured, but also to Schuldig's surprise when Ken had trapped him in a spherical water shield. 

Ken giggled, nodding at the weapons master, while Schuldig scowled darkly. 

"Come," Braddock's deep voice called to them from the valley's entrance. "The sun is setting swiftly. And your road will be a long one. Do you remember which Mayan temple you have to find?" 

The two assassins sighed and nodded, following the bronze dragon back through the forest. They reached the edge of the woods just as the sun fell below the horizon. 

Braddock looked at the pair, "Despite my initial doubts, you two have proven to be excellent students these past five years…from here on out, remember, above all, remember to work together and you'll triumph over anything." 

Ken nodded, "I think we've learned that we can trust each other…even though we really didn't want to in the beginning." 

Schuldig agreed with Ken, "Yeah…I used to think all the little white hunters' survival were flukes…I guess I was wrong, though." 

Braddock dipped his head, "So long as you remember that, you'll do fine. Stick together above all else…and Good Luck." 

Schu whirled around to where the dragon had been, only to see the empty forest. Ken sighed, settling his backpack more comfortably on his back. "Well…No time like the present." 

Together, the two assassins headed off down the road. 

~*~*~ 

Ken looked at the little white plastic card in his hand. At first he could have killed Schuldig for insisting on going to Switzerland first. The three hours in the plane had been horrible. But now he had to admit, having a bank account instead of carrying the cash around was much more convenient. 

It had been no problem for them to open the account. When the curious teller had asked where they had the money from Schuldig quickly said that they had won in the lottery. With a little help from Schuldig's special gift the lady didn't ask any more questions. 

Schuldig's hand suddenly rested on his shoulder. "So, where to now?" 

Ken looked at the redhead. "The Mayan temple of course. That was a no brainer Schu." 

The German rolled his eyes. "Ken no baka. Here we are, traveling the world for free, well… pretty much for free. Isn't there anything you always wanted to see?" 

Ken sighed. "Schuldig, you know I'm scared to death of planes. Guess what, I want this to be over ASAP!" 

"And miss this perfect chance, come on Ken, you're smarter than that. There must be at least one place you always wanted to go." 

Ken looked at the German then at his feet. "Well…" 

"Well?" Schuldig's eyebrow rose in curiosity. 

"I always wanted to go and see Chicago, and some other cities in the US." 

Schuldig grinned. "Now isn't that convenient? The US and the Mayan temples happen to be on the same continent." 

Ken gave Schuldig a look. "Are you sure? Because North and South America are seen as two continents by most normal people." 

Schuldig shrugged. "Two landmasses connected equals one continent." 

"You know they built that canal, right?" 

Schuldig glared at Ken. "Are the landmasses drifting apart? No, so the two parts are still connected." 

Ken rolled his eyes. "Whatever." 

"Well then, off to Chicago." Said Schuldig, hailing a cab. 

Ken whimpered. "Not another plane…" 

Schuldig sighed. "Unless you know how to teleport it's the only way how to get there." 

Ken shuddered and held his arms close to his chest. "Easy for him to say. Mr. I-won't-use-boats-because-I-can't-swim." 

"I heard that Ken." 

"Good, you were supposed to." 

~*~*~ 

Ken: *walks in, towel wrapped around his waist* 

Day: Aww...Kenken what's wrong? 

Ken: *yawns* I'm tired. 

Schu: *comes in, smiling like the cat that got the canary* 

Moon: *rae* I see... 

Aya: *scowling, huggles Ken* Mine. He likes _ME_ not _YOU_

Schu: Ch'. Yeah, he's going to get off on necrophilia...you're _dead_ Fujimiya. 

Ken: Ano...Can we please stop arguing? 

Aya: *glomps Ken tighter, glares at Schu* 

Schu: *glares at Aya* The boy is mine. Ken and _I_ are their *points at Day and Moon* favorite pairing, not _YOU_ and Ken. 

Ken: *sweatdrop* This...doesn't look like a safe place to be... 

Part 2 Part 4 


	4. Chapter 4

Day: YATTA!!! New chapter is finished!! 

Moon: Took us long enough. 

Day: Well, we were kinda busy. Anyway, this will be a light, easy, silly, or whatever you wanna call it chapter before the serious business starts. 

Ken: Oh joy. 

Yohji: What happened to the story were I get to have Kenken? 

Moon: Halt die Klappe!! (Shut up) We write what we feel like, you get that? 

Day: Yeah, and SchuKen is our favorite pairing. 

Ken: *snuggles Schu* 

Schu: *grins wide at Yohji* 

Yohji: *glares* 

Schu: Oh… are you angry at me? Too bad you're dead ne? 

Moon+Day: *watch the both of them bicker for a little bit* 

Ken: *sniff* I miss my koi. 

Schu: Sorry baby *kisses him* 

Moon: Anyway!! On with the story now! 

Day: Hai, hai!!! 

~*~*~ 

Schuldig leaned against the wall, waiting for Ken to come out of the bathroom. The plane flight had gone over as usual, Ken huddled up in his seat, ignoring everything around him then leaving the 'death machine' as soon as the door was open. 

This time though, Ken fled to the next best bathroom to be violently ill. Schuldig wondered what could have upset the man's stomach so much. It must have been his anxiety; he couldn't explain it any other way. Also the fact that the young man hadn't eaten anything might have caused him to feel ill. 

--He really doesn't like flying, doesn't he?-- Keiran asked sounding almost sleepy. 

--You _just_ figured that out?-- Schuldig asked his sword as he lit a cigarette. 

--No, just thought I should state the fact.-- 

Schuldig snorted and then looked up when an extremely pale looking Ken came out of the bathroom. 

"This was the _last_ time you got me on an airplane!" Chocolate eyes were ablaze with fury. 

Schuldig just grinned. "Sure thing Ken, we just walk all the way to the Aztec temple." 

The brunette nodded. "Sounds good to me." 

The redhead gave Ken a mean look. "I don't think so." 

"Damn…" 

--Not to interrupt this joyful lovers spat, but I think you guys should start finding a hotel. It is getting late.-- 

--Lucien!-- Keiran screeched outraged. --That was _not_ a lovers spat! They have to be in a relationship to have one, and they aren't. They never _will_ be!-- 

--Stop being so up-tight Keiran. I think they'd make a great couple.-- 

--They are both men!-- The sword of darkness exclaimed. 

Lucien sounded nonchalant. --And?— 

--AND?! AND THAT'S JUST WRONG!— 

Ken rolled his eyes, lifting his bag to his shoulders. "Okay, now what?" 

"Well, as loathe as I am to admit it," Schuldig smirked, "but I think Lucien is right. We need to get a hotel room for the night." 

The brunette nodded, indicating for Schuldig to take the lead. Since he liked being in charge, Schuldig did so, leading the younger man through the airport. As soon as they reached the outside, the redheaded German hailed a taxi. 

"Where to?" the driver asked as Ken and Schuldig entered. 

Taking the name of a nearby hotel from the driver's mind, Schuldig answered for them, "The Hyatt please." 

Ken looked at the German in something resembling shock. 

"What?" 

"You said 'please.'" 

Schuldig rolled his eyes, "Geeze, Ken, you act like I don't even know common courtesy." 

"As far as I know, you don't!" 

The German affected hurt indignation, eliciting a chuckle from each of the swords. 

The taxi let them out, and Schuldig dropped a twenty in his hand, not stopping to wait for the change. 

"C'mon, let's hurry up and get a room." Ken led the way to the front desk. 

The lady there smiled warmly at them. "Welcome to the Hyatt. Can I help you sirs?" 

Schuldig flashed the girl a charming smile. "Hello, my name is Alexander Schuldig. Me and my partner Mr. Hidaka here," he indicated towards Ken, "have been called to some very urgent business here in Chicago, but couldn't reserve a room before it was time to leave." 

The lady made a dubious face. "Well, I'll see what I can do. But there is an anime convention going on this week. That's why all these guys are running around here." She waved a hand towards a group of people that were dressed in some strange outfits. "They take most of the rooms but you -might- be lucky." 

Schuldig regarded the group of teens as the receptionist typed away on her terminal. He recognized one of the boys trying to look like Ryoga from Ranma ½ and a girl was dressed like Sakura from a very popular anime series call Card Captor Sakura. 

"Oh, look it's Signal from Twin Signal!" 

Schuldig blinked as a girl ran past them, flinging herself at some unsuspecting young man. She was wearing a typical sailor school uniform with cat ears clipped into her hair and a tail sticking out from under her skirt. 

Ken blinked as the girl attached herself yet again to another guest, squealing 'Shuichi-kun' at the top of her lungs. He shook his head torn between laughing and feeling sorry for the poor boy when dark brown eyes suddenly fixed on him. 

Ken gulped and looked at Schuldig. "Uh oh…" 

The next second the girl was right in his face. "Ohmygod!Youaresocute!! Are you one of ACen's Japanese guests?! A singer? Are you a voice actor? Who did you voice and can I have your autograph pretty please?!?!" 

Ken's eye twitched a little. ~Did she even breathe in between that?~ 

Schuldig raised an eyebrow. --I don't think she did…-- 

The girl meanwhile kept bouncing and talking. "Can I take your picture?! Can I be in it?! Oi neesan!! Take a picture with me and the Japanese guest!!" 

Schuldig had a hard time not to burst out laughing. Poor Ken not only was he mistaken for a star of the anime industry, he was also bombarded with questions in a language he barely spoke. His amusement dissipated though when those brown eyes fixed on him. 

"Who are you supposed to be? I mean, you don't look Japanese and your hair is orange. I don't know any orange haired characters that look like that… and I know a _LOT_ of characters. So who is it, you must like him a lot since you dyed your hair _and_ your eyebrows orange, because come on, who has hair like that in real life?" 

Schuldig fought down the urge to strangle the girl in public. What did she mean who had hair like that? Next to him Ken was trying hard not to giggle. 

"Day-chan! What did I tell you about scaring the other guests?" A girl emerged from the crowd eyeing the other girl evilly. Schuldig raised an eyebrow. What was an overly hyperactive girl doing with a freaky chick like the one that came up to them? If _anybody_ dyed their hair it was this girl…or rather, bleached it, since her hair was as white as Crawford's suit. The dress was typical goth, as was the make up and dark eyeshadow. 

'Day-chan' giggled nervously. "Uhm…not to do it? But Moon! Look at him, isn't he so ca-yute? He looks _just like_ Hakkai from Saiyuki, ne?" 

'Moon' rolled her eyes. "Just follow me, the panel on web comics is about to start." 

"Web comics? Sugoi! Let's go then!" Day grabbed Moon's wrist and dragged her off in some random direction. 

Ken blinked, taking a deep breath. "After we get our room, Schuldig, I suggest we _not_ leave it unless necessary." 

Schuldig could only nod. 

"Well it looks like you boys are in luck," the receptionist recaptured their attention. "We've got one room left. Hope you don't mind it." 

The redhead jumped on the opportunity to get away from the lobby, "Anything!" 

"Yeah, they are a bit much, aren't they?" The receptionist grinned, "Okay, you guys are on the top floor, in the Honeymoon suite." 

Ken almost chocked on his own breath. "H-honeymoon?" 

Schuldig nodded. "We take it." 

He quickly gave the lady his card and as soon as everything was taken care of he dragged Ken away to the elevator. Once on the top floor he all but tossed Ken into the suit and slammed the door behind himself. "That, was the most frightening experience ever." 

Ken looked at Schuldig. "You were frightened? I didn't even know what she was saying, for all I know she could have planed to gut me in front of the crowd. It… it was like the Koneko fangirls…. All smashed into one single person." A visible shudder ran through Ken. 

"Actually she thought you were sexy. I have to say, she has a pretty good taste." Schuldig raised an eyebrow suggestively. 

"Ewww! I didn't need to know that Schu!" 

--But Ken, she was a female in her prime stage of life.-- Keiran said smugly. --She would have been the perfect partner.-- 

Ken all but glared at Schuldig's bag. "Perfect, but absolutely insane you mean. No way, I don't even like girls." 

Schuldig patted Ken on the shoulder. "She's gone now. And I doubt we'll ever see her again." 

Ken nodded. "That better be the case. Anyway, I need a soak now, I feel like that girl just took away ten years of my life." 

The redhead chuckled. "Do that. I'll unpack in the meantime." 

~*~*~ 

The next morning, Ken slept in. He didn't wake up until eight in the morning. By the time Schuldig woke, he had taken his shower, got dressed, and ordered breakfast through room service. 

Schuldig got up early that morning. He woke up at ten. He ate his breakfast, took a shower, and was ready to leave by twelve thirty. 

"So, where to first, Kenken?" 

"Don't call me that. You're up early." 

"Don't remind me. Anyways, now that we're both up and ready to go, where do you want to go?" 

Ken shrugged, "It doesn't really matter to me. I've always wanted to go to the top of the Sears tower, and see Wrigley field, and go see Buckingham fountain, and Disney World, but that's in Florida, and-" 

Schuldig chuckled, "Calm down, Ken. I don't think we'll manage to fit in Disney world today, but there's no reason we can't go fulfill the rest of your wish list." 

The brunette grinned, shrugging his backpack onto his shoulders. "C'mon, let's go and get away from the convention girls, ne?" 

Schuldig nodded, also lifting his bag. "So, to the Sears tower first, and then we'll see where we'll go from there." 

"Sounds like a plan to me." 

~*~*~ 

Schuldig looked around the lobby as he stepped through the double doors of the Sears tower. He blinked at the mass of people that was crowding the foyer. What they found so interesting in the top of the tower he really didn't know. It was just another skyscraper. Pretty much the only type of building existing in Tokyo. 

Next to him Ken was busy looking around, his eyes never resting on one spot for longer than six seconds. 

"You know we have to go to the 103rd floor, right?" 

Ken looked at Schuldig with his chocolate eyes. "Yeah. So?" 

"Ken, you're afraid of heights." Schuldig stated flatly. 

The brunette's eyebrows furrowed. "Whatever gave you that idea?" 

Schuldig gave Ken an incredulous look. "Who is cursing every time we have to go on a plane? Who is so afraid of flying that I actually had to knock him out on our first trip?" 

Ken rolled his eyes. "I'm afraid of planes, Schuldig. Death machines, not heights." 

The telepath just shook his head. "Whatever you say Ken." 

"Let's just get in line." 

Ten minutes later Schuldig was watching Ken as the younger man pressed his nose flat on the glass. "This is _so_ cool. Look Schuldig, they have a swimming pool on the roof of that building! Oh, Wrigley Field! Home of the Cubs." 

"One sight less to go to." Schuldig grinned. 

Ken made a face but then nodded. "We're still going to Buckingham Fountain though." 

The redhead nodded. "Alright, and the Field Museum after that." 

Ken grinned. "Deal." 

Schuldig spent the rest of the time like he had before, watching Ken. The brunette seemed to have a good time, especially when he helped a little girl so she could use the telescope. Now they were waiting for the elevator to bring them back down. 

"So to the Fountain next?" 

The German nodded. 

Ken grinned. "Cool. Now I'm glad we ca-…." 

Schuldig frowned as Ken trailed off mid-sentence. --Ken? Is something wrong?-- 

The Japanese man nodded towards a group of men. ~Is it just me or are these guys acting strange?~ 

Schuldig frowned but nodded. --They are acting strange.-- 

The two assassins watched as a group of well-off looking businessmen pushed their way rather rudely through the crowd. They ignored the shouts and curses from the tourists and headed straight for the elevators, where Ken and Schuldig were. 

--You are aware that those are shapeshifters, right?-- 

~I figured it was something along those lines, yes…~ Ken thought back at Schuldig. ~Damn. I so didn't want my one and only trip to Chicago to be ruined by demonic…uh…demons.~ 

Schuldig gave Ken a look. --Demonic demons? Isn't that a bit redundant? Besides, I don't think they've noticed us yet…if we could sneak out, I doubt our trip is going to be 'ruined'-- 

Ken nodded, and the pair casually made their way back to the elevator. They made it out of the building without incident. 

~*~*~ 

--Ken, there are a little less than 3million people that live in this city, plus the unknown amount of commuters that travel here every day. Will you stop worrying about those demons finding us?-- Schuldig's mental voice sounded almost irritated. 

~What makes you think I'm worried?~ Ken thought back at the telepath. His eyes mirrored irritation as well as apprehension. 

--The fact that you've been scanning the crowd ever since we left that blasted tower. If you keep being that way they really _will_ ruin the trip for you… and me-- Schuldig sighed as his eyes traveled up the immobile form of the great Tyrannosaurus Rex skeleton. --Just enjoy your time. We'll be heading out to the Aztec temple soon enough.-- 

~Excuse _me_ for being worried about our safety. Assuming you're safe when on a mission can be the cause of your death.~ 

--We're not on a mission.-- The telepath interrupted. 

~The situation is close enough.~ Now Ken was becoming really annoyed. Why was Schuldig blowing his worries off like that? 

--I am not blowing off your concerns, Ken. I just think you're over-reacting.-- 

~I thought you couldn't read my thoughts anymore.~ 

--Well, when you're practically broadcasting them….-- 

Ken rolled his eyes, and started moving away from the skeleton. To Schuldig's surprise, dinosaurs were never one of Ken's things. 

"So what exhibit do you want to go see now, Kenken?" 

Ken shrugged, "The Egyptian exhibit, I guess." 

Schuldig nodded and consulted his map. "Alright…this way." The redheaded German led the way. Ken followed, still feeling a bit antsy. 

They were just about to turn down the hallway, however, Keiran interrupted them. --Oi! Demons at eight o'clock!-- 

Both assassins spun, drawing their swords in the process. The people around them screamed at that, and yelled for security. However, the pair had eyes only for the demons in human guise, watching them from the middle of the hall. 

Ken glared at Schuldig. "Stop worrying, huh?" 

"Oh, shut up…" the German spat back, eyes scanning for anything useful. His eyes drifted upwards, where he saw the two demons standing directly beneath Sue the Rex's skull. A gem of a plan quickly crystallized. 

Ken glanced at his partner warily. 

"Was?" The redhead asked. 

"That look means trouble. What are you going to do?" 

The smirk evolved into a full-fledged grin. Without answering, the assassin shot a generic attack on the overhead supports for the dinosaur skeleton. 

Eyes wide, Ken screeched at him. "SCHULDIG! You can't just _ruin_ a museum _artifact_ like that! You…you…careless-" 

"Calm down, Kenken," the other assassin advised, watching the giant skull crush the demons and splattering their guts all over the museum floor. 

"Calm down! CALM DOWN! You can't just DO that to MUSEUM property!" 

Schuldig grabbed Ken's wrist and started dragging him out of the museum. "Look, we're going back in time, so it'll be okay, right?" 

"It's the _principle_ of the thing! You just don't _get_ it, do you?" 

"Actually, no I don't. Right now I'm debating who has the longer stick up his ass, you or Crawford." He ignored the enraged shouts from the security that was following them and pulled Ken further into the crowd that was present in front of the museum. 

"You could at least show a little guilt over having destroyed an irreplaceable artifact." Ken glared at the telepath. 

Schuldig sighed. "Alright, I'm sorry about having dropped the giant skull of the most complete T-Rex skeleton in the world on top of a group of shapeshifting demons so that we would be spared and thus enable us to complete our quest to go back in time. Better?" 

"No," Ken's glare intensified, "you don't mean it so it's not an apology." 

The redhead blinked as Ken walked away, not bothering to check if the German was following him. He shook his head and sighed. --Look, Ken, I'm sorry about the skeleton, but I had to do _something_.-- 

--And this way no innocent bystanders got hurt.-- Lucien came to Schuldig's defense. 

Ken sighed. ~I guess… just… next time think before you act Schuldig.~ 

--Alright alright I will I pro- wait a minute. Are you implying I don't give thoughts to my actions?-- Schuldig frowned at the brunette as he came up next to him. 

Ken grinned up at the telepath, eyes twinkling with mischief. "You haven't up till now Schu." And with that he took off, running down the bike-trail alongside Lake Shore Drive. 

Two seconds later Schuldig was hot on his heels. "KEN!! Get _back_ here so I can beat that skinny ass of yours!" 

~*~*~ 

"I told you to take the silver one… I bet it would have had air conditioning and a working heater." Ken said as he tried, in vain, to get the cars heating and cooling system to do something. 

"How about just rolling down the window?" 

Ken glared at the telepath. "I would have but it doesn't move. This is the crappiest car I've seen in my life." 

Schuldig growled. "Ken, it's a car and it moves, so shut up." 

"I'm hot Schu!" Ken complained. 

Schuldig grinned at Ken. "I am aware of that." A wink followed the statement. "However, I am not turning around to get the silver car, especially since we're about an hour away from there, anyways." 

Ken rolled his eyes. "I didn't say you have to go back. I'm saying get a different car. Preferably one with AC… and silver." 

"What is it with you and silver cars?" Schuldig asked. 

The Japanese man shrugged. "No clue really, I think they just look cool." 

"Ri~ight…Moving on…" 

"Ooh! Or we could get bikes!" 

The German raised an eyebrow. "Bikes? As in motorcycles?" 

Ken nodded, "Hai! That would work out really well, I think." 

"I don't think I trust you on a bike." 

The brunette pouted and stared resolutely out of his window. They passed the time in silence, listening to some CDs that had been left in the car. 

"OH! Schuldig!" 

The German nearly jumped out of the seat. "DON'T DO THAT!!! What now, Ken?" 

"Let's go to the fair!" Ken pointed out his window at a sign advertising the Marion County Fair. 

"You're not serious…are you?" the German glanced over at the other, seeing that he was, indeed, quite serious. And pouting in that irresistibly adorable way of his. "….fine. I'll take you to the damn fair." 

"Yatta!" Ken grinned, beaming. "This'll be fun!" 

Schuldig rolled his eyes, "If you say so, Kitten, but I won't hold my breath." 

Following the directional signs, the pair pulled up into the parking lot. Ken was out of the car like lightning, trying to see everything at once. 

"Calm down, Hidaka! It's not going anywhere! Get BACK here I don't want to be chasing your skinny ass all over the place!" 

Ken paused, waiting for Schuldig to catch up with him. "You're so slow, Schuldig. Come on, let's go see the horses and go on the rides and then we can go to the exhibitors hall and also to see the alligator I saw signs for and then-" 

"Take a breath so you don't pass out." The German smirked, "You are _such_ a kid sometimes." 

Ken glared at Schuldig. "Just for that, you're buying me whatever I want!" 

"Deal. Now let's go see these horses you're all excited about, ne?" 

The brunette just nodded, leading Schuldig to the horse exhibit. Leaning over the fence, Ken watched in rapt fascination as the horses were shown. 

"They are so cool, aren't they?" 

Schuldig restrained his desire to roll his eyes, "Much better than staring at cows or chickens, I guess." 

Ken rolled his eyes. "Of course, horses are great animals. Most of them have very even tempers and they have just so much natural grace." 

"Unlike clumsy you?" Schuldig asked as they climbed the bleachers, trying to find a seat in the shade. 

"Hey! I am -not- clumsy!" Ken exclaimed loudly. Glaring at the German he didn't see the ice on a step that someone must have spilled earlier. Taking the step the inevitable happened; he slipped and barely caught himself before he could cut his forehead open on the metal steps. 

Schuldig raised an eyebrow. "You were saying?" 

Ken muttered to himself and brushed some dust off his pants. "Just shut up Schuldig." 

The telepath just grinned and kept walking up the steps, with Ken right behind him. "I meant to do that." 

"Sure you did Ken." The amusement in Schuldig's voice was impossible to miss. 

~*~*~ 

"Now this is what America is all about…advertising." Schuldig said, staring at the exhibitors hall. "Ne, Ken? Ken?" 

Looking around, the German found the brunette had already approached a booth and had received a balloon from the vendor. And then he was off to the next booth to get another balloon. 

"Oi! Kenken! Wait up a second, okay?" 

Ken turned and rolled his eyes at Schuldig. "Quit taking so long, and I might! Now hurry up, they've got red and purple balloons over at that booth." 

"….right. Let's go then." 

Brown eyes blinked, "Schuldig? What's wrong?" 

"Nothing, don't worry about it." 

--Didn't you say that someone you two knew had red hair and purple eyes?-- Lucien asked Ken in private. 

Ken's eyes widened. He hadn't even thought about that, it had been so long since he had had the time to think about his team-mates, even if he used to have a crush on one of them. He glanced at the telepath again and asked the man for a red balloon. 

"Thank you." He smiled at the white haired man. "And, could you do me a favor and give that man over there one too?" He pointed at Schuldig. "He could use some cheering up." 

The man smiled kindly and nodded and Ken walked away humming. 

Five minutes later Schuldig appeared next to him, tugging on a strand of his hair. "What was that all about, setting the poor man up to give me a balloon?" 

Ken smiled. "You looked like you needed to be cheered up, is all." 

"Huh?" 

"Oh Schuldig look. Look! Those balloons are big!" Ken bounced on his feet and pointed at a both a little behind Schuldig. "I want one!" 

The German turned a bit and saw the balloons that Ken must've been talking about. Giant red balloons with yellow words that said 'Young Plumbing' were being passed out by a couple girls in red shirts. 

Ken approached the pair, smiling his most charming smile at them. "Can I have one?" 

"Sure thing, cutie!" one of the girls chirped, handing him a balloon, "Would your friend like one as well?" she handed a second balloon to Schuldig. 

"Thank you!" 

The German took it patiently, wondering when Ken would be done with his balloon collecting – the brunette had about thirty or forty of them already! What exactly was he planning on doing with them all? 

The pair made their rounds in the exhibition hall and returned to the outside. They spent some time at the games, both of them winning more stuffed animals than they could carry, and giving them to the children (at Ken's insistence, of course). 

"It's getting late, Ken," Schuldig said, watching the crowd around him, "We probably ought to see about finding a hotel or something." 

Ken nodded, "Yeah, but you still owe me a treat, you know." 

"Hai, hai. Pick out whatever you want, Kitten." 

Ken merely nodded and began to stroll through the various food booths. He noticed one little girl staring at his rather large collection of treats. 

"Hey there, sweetie! You like balloons?" 

The little girl nodded, strawberry curls bouncing. 

"Well, me and my friend are getting ready to leave, and I can't fit them all into my car. Would you like them?" 

Her face broke into a wide grin and she nodded enthusiastically, holding out her hand to receive the bouquet of helium. 

Ken smiled, handing her the bundle. "Hey, what's that you're eating?" 

"It's a chocolate covered 'nana," she replied cutely, "It's very good." 

"Susan! Susan, come on!" a woman called, and the little girl looked over at her. 

"I gotta go. Momma's callin' me!" 

Ken smiled, waving as the little girl ran off to her mother with thirty balloons. 

"You really like the rugrats, don't you?" Schuldig asked, having watched the display. 

The brunette nodded, "Yeah. Kids are great." 

The German blinked, "I guess…so how about that chocolate covered banana?" 

Ken smiled up at his partner, "Hai!" 

~*~*~ 

Schuldig was beginning to regret ever buying Ken the treat, while at the same time wishing he had an endless supply of the bananas. Ken's preferred method for eating them was to suck the chocolate off before biting down. Unfortunately, this method was making Schuldig's pants just a wee bit too tight. 

"Schuldig, are you coming or what?" Ken asked, already waiting by the car. 

~I wish I was, I really do.~ The telepath though but answered. "Hang on Ken, my shoelace came undone." 

Yeah, so it was a lame excuse, but it gave him a minute to get his raging hormones under control. He had never been -that- attracted to another person, male or female. This situation was slowly getting out of hand. But what could he do about it? 

"Guess who's going to be taking a lot of cold showers in the next few weeks." The telepath mumbled to himself and got back up. 

"Alright Ken, there should be a Holiday Inn somewhere down that road." 

Ken nodded. "Sleep first, then a new, -better- car in the morning, and off to Mexico we are." 

Schuldig nodded, "Sounds like a plan to me." 

~*~*~ 

Brad: You had a cameo in your own story? 

Moon: Got a problem with that? 

Brad: It seems weird… 

Day: But it was fun ^__^ 

Schu: At least they pretty much made their story selves act the same way they would in real life. 

Day: Of course, otherwise it would be Mary-Sue *shudders* 

Moon: Now now Day-chan, keep your mind off of M-Sue's or you'll have an ulcer. 

Day: *nods and shakes of the shuddery feeling* 

Ken: Will we have a better car in the next chapter? 

Day: *looks shocked* You don't like my car? 

Ken:…… that's your car Day? 

Moon: Yeah… no AC and the windows won't roll down? That's Day-chan's car alright. 

Day: At least it moves. 

Omi: That is important, true. 

Ken:…… get a new car Day. 

Day: I'm a college student! I don't have money to buy cars! 

Moon: *patpat* Calm down Day, like you said, it moves and that's what counts. Anyway *looks to the readers* We'll be seeing you soon with the next chapter and the true beginning of the quest, till then…. JA!! *waves* 


End file.
